Wednesday's weather forecast for St. Paul calls for partly sunny skies, a high near 8 degrees and north-northwest wind of 8 miles per hour. By night, it will be cloudy and the low dropping to minus-7.
Despite bitter cold forecast, no plans to adjust U.S. World Cup soccer qualifier vs. Honduras in St. Paul
Allianz Field has an underground heating system designed to keep the playing surface above 55 degrees. Game time temperature is expected to be in single-digits.
January 31, 2022 at 8:41PM
Such conditions would reach "extreme conditions" under safety guidelines U.S. Soccer published in 2015. That "black" alert level recommends cancellation or rescheduling indoors because of frostbite threat.
Nonetheless, a U.S. Soccer spokesman Monday said there are no plans to adjust the men's national team's World Cup qualifier against Honduras outdoors at Allianz Field.
An underground heating system warms the grass field to at least 55 degrees, which is designed to keep the field playable.
"There's nothing worse than playing on a frozen pitch," said Minnesota United veteran Wil Trapp, a former U.S. men's national team member who played in the cold for MLS' Columbus team — but not Minnesota cold.
The U.S. team is playing both of its home games in this three-game World Cup qualifying window in northern cities seeking a home-country advantage against tropical opponents El Salvador in Columbus and Honduras in St. Paul.
The Americans' 2-0 road loss to Canada on Sunday, played on artificial turf in Hamilton, Ontario, was sandwiched between two home games. The temperature was 31 degrees for the El Salvador game and 26 in Canada.
Honduras played its first two games in this current three-game window at home in Central America, losing to Canada and El Salvador each 2-0 with temperatures in the mid- to upper 70s.
Eliminated with Sunday's loss from qualifying for the World Cup in Qatar in November, Honduras is traveling all day Monday. The team was scheduled to arrive in Minnesota at 9 p.m.
Tuesday's forecast high is 31, but the temperature is supposed to drop to 16 degrees by sunset and continue to 1 below overnight.
After Sunday's loss, United States coach Gregg Berhalter was asked about weather and playing conditions in Minnesota with single-digit temperatures forecast. He said he hadn't checked the latest reports.
"As far as I'm concerned, the field is good and it's a green light," Berhalter said in a video call with reporters.
Minnesota started only two strikers against Seattle, leaving Sang Bin Jeong and Joseph Rosales to provide the width behind Teemu Pukki and Kelvin Yeboah.
