Following Argentina’s 2-0 win over Canada in the opening match of the Copa America, head coach Lionel Scaloni and several of his players criticized the playing surface at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
The 73,000-capacity NFL arena is shared between Atlanta United of MLS and the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons. It is an artificial turf surface that on occasion, is replaced with a grass field that is placed on top of the turf.
Atlanta United played a home game on turf on Saturday, June 15 and the pitch was laid the following day, five days before Thursday’s match. But the end result was not satisfactory, according to the Argentina national team.
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Asked what the difference was between Argentina’s World Cup clash against Saudi Arabia at Doha’s Lusail Stadium in 2022 compared to the match in Atlanta on Thursday night, Scaloni held no punches.
“The difference is that against (Saudi) Arabia we played on a nice field,” he said. “With all due respect — and good thing is we won, because otherwise it would look like I’m giving a cheap excuse — they knew seven months ago that we were going to play here and they changed the surface two (sic) days ago. That’s not good for spectacle.
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“It’s not an excuse. The stadium is beautiful and the artificial turf they use is wonderful. But this field was not up to standard for these players.”
Scaloni added that Canada forced Argentina to adjust their tactics and that the playing surface had forced his side to play differently.
As Argentina’s players spoke to the international press, the pitch remained a common complaint.
Captain Lionel Messi, who provided the assist for Lautaro Martinez’s 88th-minute goal in the 2-0 win, said the pitch “didn’t help but the boys made a significant effort physically.”
“We entered this game after playing some friendlies against some lower-level opponents,” goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez said. “We faced a strong Canada team tonight on a pitch that was a disaster, honestly it was complicated. The field was a disaster. It jumped up on you as you ran.” Martinez later described the field as “a trampoline.”
“If we don’t improve things like this, the Copa America will always be below the European Championship,” the Aston Villa player added.
Argentina defender Cristian Romero had a similar scathing review of the Mercedes-Benz Stadium surface. “The conditions of the field were terrible,” he said. “It’s a shame that we have to play this tournament on a field like this. It affected us but those aren’t excuses.”
Despite Martinez’s comments, pitches at this summer’s European Championship in Germany have also attracted complaints from players and managers. The pitches at the Frankfurt Arena and the Dusseldorf Arena in particular have drawn criticism.
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Scaloni was asked if he had additional concerns about the other fields that Argentina will play on throughout the tournament. “No, hopefully the pitches aren’t a concern because this is the only one that was an artificial field two days ago,” he said.
“I imagine that the other fields will be fine, but it’s odd that it was known six months ago that we’d be playing here. I think changes could’ve been made earlier and not at the last minute. There’s nothing we can do about that.”
The United States will play their second group stage match versus Panama in Atlanta next Thursday. Argentina’s second game, meanwhile, will also be on a grass pitch on top of turf when they face Chile at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium on Tuesday.
(Top photo: Hector Vivas/Getty Images)