The stormy skies that had threatened to ruin the day were about to unleash a full-blown tornado on Kansas City, sending shockwaves through the city just hours after England's football team touched down for the World Cup. As the Three Lions squad put in some final touches at their Swope Soccer Village base, the weather radar was screaming red alerts – and 80mph winds were about to rip through the city with frightening ferocity.
The National Weather Service sounded the alarm, urging residents to take cover in sturdy buildings away from windows as the twister bore down on the American Midwest metropolis. The FIFA fan festival was promptly shut down, staff and volunteers evacuated to safety – it was a chaotic scene that would test the nerves of even the most seasoned storm-watchers.
Just hours earlier, Gareth Southgate's team had lapped up the sun-soaked conditions at their training session, temperatures soaring to 30 degrees Celsius as they got down to business. But with storms forecast for the early evening, a tornado warning was issued for parts of Kansas City – and it was only a matter of time before the tempest struck.
This is the latest in a series of weather-related woes to beset England's World Cup preparations. A thunderstorm had caused a one-hour delay to their final warm-up friendly against Costa Rica in Florida, but this tornado takes the biscuit – and leaves fans on tenterhooks ahead of Wednesday's crunch tie against Croatia.
The squad's morale may have taken a hit by the tornado's arrival, but they won't be getting too worked up about it. After all, as we know, football is played in all weathers – and England are ready to take on whatever Mother Nature throws their way.