World football stars looking at the ground before every step. That is the scene in the World Cup preparation camps, after several European national teams came across copperhead snakes — a venomous species — at their training bases in the United States.
Germany captain Joshua Kimmich summed it up bluntly: “We are here preparing for the most important tournament in football, and suddenly the players are looking at the ground before every step they take.” Kimmich clarified that the bite is not usually fatal, but it does require a trip to the hospital — and that was enough to wipe the smiles away. Erling Haaland and the Norway national team also have their base in North Carolina and are already on maximum alert. Captain Kristian Thorstvedt, upon learning that copperheads are very common in the area, was direct: “I’m not happy at all to hear that”.
Austria directly banned bicycle training at its Santa Barbara base for fear of the reptiles, while Switzerland went a step further in San Diego: it marked off a section of its camp as a “snake zone”. 🐍