This is the official word from Mexico's seismic monitoring network, Simmsa, who identified tremors from at least two of their monitoring stations during the 35th minute of the World Cup showdown, the exact moment Mexico's Hirving Lozano scored the winning, and only, goal. The measurements come from Mexico City, where fans had gathered to watch the match, streamed live from the Russian Cup.
The ‘artificial quake’ was caused “Possibly by massive jumps during the Goal of the game of #Mexico in the Cup. At least two sensors inside the City detected it at 11:32,” said Simmsa in a tweet.
Demonstrating just how significant this celebration really was, Sismologia Chile also reported tremors at the exact moment of the goal… over 6000kms away.
If this sounds impossible, it has actually occurred before thanks to the celebrations of sports fans.
John E. Vidale, director of the Southern California Earthquake Center, told USA TODAY Sports that artificially induced quakes have also happened in the USA, with the largest measured in 2011 during an NFL game in Seattlle.
In fact Peru’s World Cup qualification against New Zealand also reportedly triggered an earthquake last year, which may not bode well for our Socceroos, with an upcoming match against the South American qualifiers.
