Following Argentina’s 2-0 win over Canada within the opening match of the Copa America, head coach Lionel Scaloni and several other of his gamers criticized the taking part in floor at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
The 73,000-capacity NFL enviornment is shared between Atlanta United of MLS and the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons. It’s a synthetic turf floor that every now and then, is changed with a grass area that’s positioned on prime of the turf.
Atlanta United performed a house recreation on turf on Saturday, June 15 and the pitch was laid the next day, 5 days earlier than Thursday’s match. However the finish end result was not passable, in keeping with the Argentina nationwide workforce.
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Requested what the distinction was between Argentina’s World Cup conflict towards Saudi Arabia at Doha’s Lusail Stadium in 2022 in comparison with the match in Atlanta on Thursday night time, Scaloni held no punches.
“The distinction is that towards (Saudi) Arabia we performed on a pleasant area,” he stated. “With all due respect — and good factor is we received, as a result of in any other case it will seem like I’m giving an affordable excuse — they knew seven months in the past that we had been going to play right here and so they modified the floor two (sic) days in the past. That’s not good for spectacle.
“It’s not an excuse. The stadium is gorgeous and the synthetic turf they use is fantastic. However this area was lower than customary for these gamers.”
Scaloni added that Canada pressured Argentina to regulate their techniques and that the taking part in floor had pressured his aspect to play in a different way.
Scaloni was not proud of the sector in Atlanta (Charly Triballeau/AFP through Getty Pictures)
As Argentina’s gamers spoke to the worldwide press, the pitch remained a typical grievance.
Captain Lionel Messi, who offered the help for Lautaro Martinez’s 88th-minute purpose within the 2-0 win, stated the pitch “didn’t assist however the boys made a major effort bodily.”
“We entered this recreation after taking part in some friendlies towards some lower-level opponents,” goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez stated. “We confronted a robust Canada workforce tonight on a pitch that was a catastrophe, actually it was difficult. The sphere was a catastrophe. It jumped up on you as you ran.” Martinez later described the sector as “a trampoline.”
“If we don’t enhance issues like this, the Copa America will all the time be beneath the European Championship,” the Aston Villa participant added.
Argentina defender Cristian Romero had the same scathing evaluate of the Mercedes-Benz Stadium floor. “The situations of the sector had been horrible,” he stated. “It’s a disgrace that we now have to play this event on a area like this. It affected us however these aren’t excuses.”
Regardless of Martinez’s feedback, pitches at this summer time’s European Championship in Germany have additionally attracted complaints from gamers and managers. The pitches on the Frankfurt Area and the Dusseldorf Area particularly have drawn criticism.
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Scaloni was requested if he had extra issues concerning the different fields that Argentina will play on all through the event. “No, hopefully the pitches aren’t a priority as a result of that is the one one which was a synthetic area two days in the past,” he stated.
“I think about that the opposite fields might be high-quality, however it’s odd that it was recognized six months in the past that we’d be taking part in right here. I feel adjustments might’ve been made earlier and never on the final minute. There’s nothing we are able to do about that.”
America will play their second group stage match versus Panama in Atlanta subsequent Thursday. Argentina’s second recreation, in the meantime, may even be on a grass pitch on prime of turf once they face Chile at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium on Tuesday.