Football putting on a show to rival the Ice Bowl for notoriety

The 1967 NFL Championship Game between the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys is the single most famous sporting event ever held on US soil, a statement The Fiver makes with the caveat that we don’t know what we’re talking about but have decided to run with it anyway. The match has become immortalised as the Ice Bowl, on account of temperatures being -26C, with a wind chill as low as -57. The field turned into a skating rink, the referee’s whistle stuck to his lips and several players lost toenails due to frostbite. Green Bay won, and afterwards there were snacks.

By comparison, soccer’s version of this meteorological lunacy, the semi-legendary Snow Clásico between the USMNT and Costa Rica in 2013, was positively balmy. A thick blanket of white powder covered the pitch, the lines required constant clearing, and a yellow ball was required, but while there was certainly quite a nip in the air, at least there was no sense of extremity-bothering doom. However, on Wednesday night in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the soccer world finally put on a show to rival the Ice Bowl for notoriety, when the USMNT were sent out to face Honduras in temperatures of -16C with a wind-chill factor of bloody hell. Visiting coach Hernán Gómez described the conditions as “inconceivable”, before bringing his pre-match interview to a dramatic end by stating he was off outside and may be some time.

OK, what Gomez actually said was: “The game hasn’t started, but I can’t wait for it to end. Because it’s not for enjoying, it’s for suffering.” He was spot-on in that analysis, because Honduras, bedecked in tights, gloves and balaclavas, went on to lose the Human Rights World Cup qualifier 3-0, with a couple of their players substituted so they could be