MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. \u2013 Carla Gregory was fighting the heat even before watching the World Cup quarterfinal between England and Norway on Saturday.<\/p>\n
She carried cold water in one hand. She had an unfolded fan in the other, flapping it with hopes of creating her own little breeze. And the elements seemed to be winning; no matter what she tried, the England fan was still, at best, uncomfortable.<\/p>\n
“I can\u2019t imagine playing 90 minutes in it,\u201d said Gregory, who came to the U.S. with her husband from their home in Telford, England to follow their team through the World Cup.<\/p>\n
Norway had Harry Kane to worry about. England had Erling Haaland to worry about. And both sides \u2014 in what has been a theme for this World Cup \u2014 had the weather to worry about. It was 92 degrees Fahrenheit (33 Celsius) when the teams started warm-ups Saturday afternoon, and with the humidity factored in it felt like 104 F (40 C).<\/p>\n
That’s a far cry from the seasonable 72 F (22 C) in London or 59 F (15 C) in Lillehammer at that time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we have trained very lightly,\u201d Norway manager St\u00e5le Solbakken said on the eve of the match. \u201cWe haven\u2019t done much hard work. We obviously have tactical sessions, but at a lower tempo and have not trained for long periods.\u201d<\/p>\n
In other words, rest and hydration took precedence for Norway \u2014 which spent much of the week in South Florida to acclimate. England didn’t arrive in the Miami area until later in the week.<\/p>\n
\u201cUp until now we\u2019ve played in cool conditions, I would say,\u201d England defender Nico O’Reilly said. \u201cBut we\u2019re ready for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
This wasn’t England’s first trip to South Florida on its World Cup journey. The team arrived in Palm Beach Gardens \u2014 about 90 minutes north of Miami Gardens \u2014 on June 2 for more than a week of training and to get a feel for the heat and humidity.<\/p>\n
England also had to adjust to the high temperatures of its Kansas City base camp, and survive Mexico\u2019s altitude to beat the co-host in the round of 16, but hadn’t faced anything like the combination of heat and humidity that greeted the teams Saturday.<\/p>\n
Gregory said she felt for the players.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard just sitting and watching it,\u201d Gregory said.<\/p>\n
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Gracie Fisher is a student in the University of Georgia\u2019s Carmical Sports Media Institute.<\/p>\n
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