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Copa America Other Matches + Group A


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Weston McKennie joins the pile on about pitch conditions + a side boot at stadium atmosphere.

“I think what Martinez was saying was completely true. It’s frustrating, especially as a player. You know, whenever you do come here to America you play in a stadium that can fit 70,000 people but 25,000 show up. You don’t really have an atmosphere. And then you’re playing on a football field, with laid grass that’s all patchy and it breaks up every step you take. It’s frustrating.”

While Euros have seen some pitches cutting up, McKennie still believes his European counterparts have it better.

“If you look at the Euros, they’re all playing on great fields, great grass, football-specific stadiums, soccer-specific stadiums, and you see the quality of the football. 

“You can play a 1-2 without wondering if the ball is gonna bounce up before you hit it. You can pass the ball back to the keeper not being afraid that it’s going to bounce over his foot. You see a different type of soccer.

I was just watching Netherlands-France right now and I was joking around — the center back was dribbling and he played it into the midfield, the guy played it back to him and then he played it back again. I’m like ‘that can’t happen here, because that ball, the second one might end up at the head.'”

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5582260/2024/06/21/copa-america-field-conditions-weston-mckennie/

Peru manager also said Luis Advincula Achilles injury could be due to the unnatural grass.

Edited by red card
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3 hours ago, red card said:

Weston McKennie joins the pile on about pitch conditions + a side boot at stadium atmosphere.

“I think what Martinez was saying was completely true. It’s frustrating, especially as a player. You know, whenever you do come here to America you play in a stadium that can fit 70,000 people but 25,000 show up. You don’t really have an atmosphere. And then you’re playing on a football field, with laid grass that’s all patchy and it breaks up every step you take. It’s frustrating.”

While Euros have seen some pitches cutting up, McKennie still believes his European counterparts have it better.

“If you look at the Euros, they’re all playing on great fields, great grass, football-specific stadiums, soccer-specific stadiums, and you see the quality of the football. 

“You can play a 1-2 without wondering if the ball is gonna bounce up before you hit it. You can pass the ball back to the keeper not being afraid that it’s going to bounce over his foot. You see a different type of soccer.

I was just watching Netherlands-France right now and I was joking around — the center back was dribbling and he played it into the midfield, the guy played it back to him and then he played it back again. I’m like ‘that can’t happen here, because that ball, the second one might end up at the head.'”

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5582260/2024/06/21/copa-america-field-conditions-weston-mckennie/

Peru manager also said Luis Advincula Achilles injury could be due to the unnatural grass.

This was so predictable.  They literally laid it down a few days before the matches.  How does this still happen and how is it still accepted?

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5 minutes ago, WestHamCanadianinOxford said:

He used to have a bunch of interesting ones but actually stopped explicitly he said because of VAR. 

I thought maybe it was a tribute to Van Halen’s bass player who, come to think of it, has a similar name to Jamaica’s no 9. After all, he saw the ball coming to him in the air and thought to himself “Might as well jump”. It’s just unfortunate that they not playing Panama. I’ll wait for the next bad pun…

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13 minutes ago, costarg said:

This was so predictable.  They literally laid it down a few days before the matches.  How does this still happen and how is it still accepted?

I think they leave it so late because the sod has such a narrow useful window when laid over the plastic.  The groundskeepers are simply trying to keep it alive as long as possible. 

Guessing depending on what sort of efforts are put into the bedding that useful lifespan can't be measured in more than a few weeks.  Don't know.

The greens in Germany have had a rough go of it too, or at least it feels like it, but nothing like the Copa and the quality gap will widen every match.

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30 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

I thought maybe it was a tribute to Van Halen’s bass player who, come to think of it, has a similar name to Jamaica’s no 9. After all, he saw the ball coming to him in the air and thought to himself “Might as well jump”. It’s just unfortunate that they not playing Panama. I’ll wait for the next bad pun…

I think I have seen that one before:

Couple of his most interesting:

football-west-ham-united.gif

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6 hours ago, jhoops__ said:

Damn this Ecuador game is pretty violent…

thats the way conmebol games are play though ... world cup qualifier games are all like that . Paraguay and uruguay are the same or worst.

Colombia is pretty physical too  , Peru , Venezuela and  Chile play like that too . 

Bolivia may be the only exception to this rule down south 

 

 

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9 hours ago, Cheeta said:

I think they leave it so late because the sod has such a narrow useful window when laid over the plastic.  The groundskeepers are simply trying to keep it alive as long as possible. 

Guessing depending on what sort of efforts are put into the bedding that useful lifespan can't be measured in more than a few weeks.  Don't know.

The greens in Germany have had a rough go of it too, or at least it feels like it, but nothing like the Copa and the quality gap will widen every match.

I do think the Copa fields will improve before they get worse. The biggest issue I noticed in the Canada game was the seams. Those will become less of a problem as the grass at the seams grows together and is cut. 

As you point out, though, overall they will degrade quickly.

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36 minutes ago, narduch said:

Lots of talk on social media about how the tickets are massively over priced and the stadiums have been empty. 

Apparently tonight's USA match is going to look bad

The Argentina game was sold out but there were blocks of empty seats around; think people took a bath speculating that $800 tickets would sell for $1,200.  But trying to fill an 80,000 seat stadium for a game that would sell 25,000 is insane.

I don’t find the rest of the game tickets unreasonable for KC or Orlando.  For the Peru game, we paid $81 Canadian for seats that wound up right at midfield, 10 rows up.

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7 hours ago, rick10 said:

thats the way conmebol games are play though ... world cup qualifier games are all like that . Paraguay and uruguay are the same or worst.

Colombia is pretty physical too  , Peru , Venezuela and  Chile play like that too . 

Bolivia may be the only exception to this rule down south 

 

 

Oh yeah.   They get "catty" at quite an impressive level.  And talk about things escalating quickly?  LOL.  Yikes.

LOL.  Loving the ref communication rule at the EUROS.  Maybe overcompensating a bit too much, think it was McGinn who got carded for a pretty mild protest but if it takes zero tolerance to make it work, zero tolerance it is.  At least 25 years over due.

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4 minutes ago, JamboAl said:

The Argentina game was sold out but there were blocks of empty seats around; think people took a bath speculating that $800 tickets would sell for $1,200.  But trying to fill an 80,000 seat stadium for a game that would sell 25,000 is insane.

I don’t find the rest of the game tickets unreasonable for KC or Orlando.  For the Peru game, we paid $81 Canadian for seats that wound up right at midfield, 10 rows up.

Apparently for the US game tonight they are emailing supporters groups and youth teams and offering free tickets 

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22 minutes ago, narduch said:

Apparently for the US game tonight they are emailing supporters groups and youth teams and offering free tickets 

Yes, I’ve heard that as well.  The game in Atlanta will also be interesting; the US play Panama and I don’t know how you get 71,000 into there for that game even at a discounted price.

Having experienced the crap CONMEBOL put me (and Canada Soccer) through for Argentina tickets, they deserve to lose their shirt. 

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16 minutes ago, JamboAl said:

Yes, I’ve heard that as well.  The game in Atlanta will also be interesting; the US play Panama and I don’t know how you get 71,000 into there for that game even at a discounted price.

Having experienced the crap CONMEBOL put me (and Canada Soccer) through for Argentina tickets, they deserve to lose their shirt. 

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