Lightning Crashes

While I was watching the second semifinal between Spain and Russia, the video feed put up a picture of lightning cracking over the top of the stadium in Vienna. I was watching the match with some friends, and we debated for about two minutes whether it was a live shot or a shot from before the match started. After some quick back and forth, we decided it was from before the match since there was no way they could continue in such conditions. At that point, we dropped it and continued to watch the match.

Well, it would seem that we could have been wrong, since apparently soccer has no contingency plan for stopping a match for lightning. Last weekend, three Cambodian youth players were killed and three others were sent to the hospital when they were struck down by the electrical phenomenon during a tournament match.

The Cambodian Soccer Federation's response was something like this:

Well that sucks. Perhaps we should consider not playing when there is bad weather in the area. Like thunderclouds and such. Oh, and why aren't we being referred to as Kampuchea anymore?

No one could answer him.