> It was always a stupid idea to have footballers running around in temperatures >100F

I assume they could probably get some strong evaporation cooling from the well-hydrated field, but I am not really familiar with that sort of extreme climate.

They are/were looking at making artificial robotic clouds.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/SPORT/03/25/qatar.flying.saucers...

> plans to develop giant artificial remotely controlled "clouds" made up of high-tech materials that will be positioned between the blistering sun and the still-to-be-built football stadiums in the Gulf emirate.

You probably stumbled over this article about scientists @ Qatar University developing artificial clouds: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/9435035.stm

edit: same as above post :)

I grew up in the Palm Springs area (summers regularly in the 100-125F range), and played soccer my entire life, through the summer. It's absolutely possible to do it, although it is not fun. The issue is that you have to hydrate completely differently, and to be fair, our substitution rules were different (unlimited subs, and you could be subbed back in), so players who have never played in that environment are at risk. Also, it gave us an extreme home field advantage whenever clubs from the California coast came into town to play.