It's raining like I've never seen it rain before. 75% of the stadium's lights just went out. The game has been stopped in the 54th minute. And now, the field boards behind the north goal have fallen over. And there are large puddles forming on the field. And there's lightning. And 500 members of Barra Brava continue to chant and sing. And now large thunderclaps have joined in.
God does not want this game to happen. Ever.
UPDATE #1 (8:58 p.m.): No joke, 75% of the field is covered with puddles. No, not puddles - ponds. Nope, ponds are too small. There are gigantic lakes all over the field.
UPDATE #2 (9:04 p.m.): The lights are back on, but now we have to wait for the lightning to clear.. and perhaps the field to drain.
UPDATE #3 (9:11 p.m.): Photo added. You can see - it's pretty bad.
UPDATE #4 (9:43 p.m.): The field is slowly draining and the lightning appears to have stopped.. rain has slowed down, too. I'm told the game needs to be completed by 1 a.m., so it would have to start back up again around midnight in order to get in the full 90 minutes.
UPDATE #5: (9:55 p.m.): Their are several folks with squeegees on the field trying to push water off... I'm not sure it's working very well. The refs are going to walk the field in about ten minutes to try and determine if it's playable. Though it's still raining steadily, we haven't seen lightning in a while.
UPDATE #6 (10:03 p.m.): The referees are testing the field with a ball.. the first kick went about eight inches. The second went through the goal box, but it's obvious only parts of the field are playable. The squeegeeing continues...
UPDATE #7 (10:08 p.m.): Both head coaches have joined the referees on the field and are wandering around, testing the pitch. There are now at least eight folks with squeegees around the field.
UPDATE #8 (10:13 p.m.): Just got the word from the depths of RFK that we're going to wait another 30 minutes before making a determination on whether or not to start the game. The field is not yet ready. Super.
Update #9 (10:28 p.m.): Stopped down in the locker room. Most guys were just lounging about, telling war stories. Quavas Kirk and Craig Thompson were kicking a ball around. Enthralling stuff.
UPDATE #10 (10:34 p.m.): Photo below by Tony Quinn. Confirmation that it was raining hard. Very hard.
UPDATE #11 (10:50 p.m.): The coaches are back on the field, checking it out for a second time. Rain is still falling pretty steadily. The fans are cheering as the coaches and refs check the field. Hard to tell how many are sticking around because they're not allowed in the seats. The ref is kicking the ball around the field and it's definitely moving better than before.
UPDATE #12 (11:00 p.m.): The coaches, refs and game officials are at half field... fans are chanting "let them play" from afar... the squeegees are back out! Hooray for squeegees!
UPDATE #13 (11:03 p.m.): Field will be inspected in 15 minutes by match officials. Teams must be warming up by midnight. The squeegees are still out but it's continuing to raining.
UPDATE #14 (11:14 p.m.): Tom Soehn is very carefully monitoring those using the squeegees.. the refs are back out to inspect the field for a third time. Rain is now barely a drizzle and I've been sitting in the press box with nothing to watch for almost two hours.
UPDATE #15 (11:22 p.m.):
Game on. Warm ups will start immediately and last twenty minutes before play resumes. The rain is just about stopped and the field is looking good (well, as good as can be expected). Kickoff should take place around
11:45 p.m.
11:40 p.m.
UPDATE #16 (11:28 p.m.): Both teams are back on the field warming up. Nothing like two hours of sitting around to get the legs loose. It will be interesting to see if either coach decides to make a change coming out of the break. Hopefully, both teams will stay injury free... Fans are back in their seats, but there can't be more than a few hundred folks who stuck around.
UPDATE #17 (11:42 p.m.): Here we go! Game just kicked off.. photo added above of the last few remaining fans. Delay was exactly two hours and 54 minutes! Follow along on the dcunited.com matchtracker here.
