The statements of the Argentine soccer players after the 2-0 victory against Canada had one point in common. They spoke with satisfaction and pride about the victory, the process of the game, the hunger for glory they exhibited, the spirit of continuing to want to win cups with the national team, and in turn they expressed his annoyance about the conditions of the playing field.
It was Lionel Scaloni’s first response at a press conference. The journalist had asked him about the grass, but about the comparisons with the debut in the World Cup, when Saudi Arabia had proposed an advanced defense like this time Canada offered in the premiere of the Copa América. “The difference is that we play there on a decent field“answered the Argentine coach, clearly angry about the state of the playing field. “Thank goodness we won because otherwise it would have seemed like a cheap excuse,” he said. We have known for seven months that we are going to play here and they changed the grass two days ago. The stadium is beautiful and with the synthetic grass it should be spectacular, but with today’s grass It is not suitable for this type of players”.
He Mercedez-Benz Stadium It has capacity for seventy thousand spectators and is the home of Atlanta United of the MLS and the Atlanta Falcons of the NFL. It also hosted a Super Bowl and is home to the Peach Bowl, a college football competition. On November 21, 2023, Conmebol confirmed the venues for the 2024 Copa América and announced in which stadiums the first match and the final would be played. “In Atlanta, the ball will start rolling and will not stop for a month until the final match in Miami,” said the South American entity on the official website. Seven months passed: on Saturday, June 15, they played in that same stadium, the local Atlanta against the Houston Dynamo for matchday number 19 of the American league. They tied two to two: Thiago Almada started at home and Franco Escobar scored a goal for the visitor. They played on a synthetic grass field.
Five days later, Argentina and Canada met in the first match of the Copa América on natural grass. “Two days ago it was synthetic, they can’t put a hundred meters of grass so quickly, they have to do it little by little. They are patching, patching and there are continuous cuts. It is painted so that it is not noticeable. From above maybe everything looks pretty“, the Argentine technical director emphatically criticized, while later maintaining that he knew it was the only field with artificial grass. Only one more match will be played in this stadium: it will be on Thursday, June 27, in a duel between the locals and Panama, corresponding to group C.
Scaloni’s reproach with the organization of the continental competition reinforced the players’ questions. Christian Romero said in dialogue with TyC Sports: “The conditions of the fields were very ugly. Having to play this competition on such an ugly field is unfortunate. It hurt us in the game, but taking that away we played a good game, we showed again that we are good and that we are as hungry as ever.” Emiliano Martínez, for his part, was more severe in his recrimination: “It is very difficult like this. First game and the field is a disaster. They put patches of grass on top of a synthetic and It seemed like a trampoline every time we received the ball. It doesn’t help our game. But then you realize that they put things in our way and the team goes and goes, and wants to continue improving.”
He took as an example a specific action: the one-on-one that Ángel Di María wasted in the first stage after running forty meters with a controlled ball and defining poorly before the Canadian goalkeeper came out. “You were running and the ball was jumping. Angelito went one on one with the goalkeeper and ended up finishing with his right because I couldn’t carry it to the foot because it stung so badly.“, expressed the Mar del Plata goalkeeper, who in his defense fueled the comparison between the Copa América and the Euro Cup, two tournaments that are being played simultaneously. “We have to improve in that aspect Or else the Copa América will always be a level a little lower than the Euro Cup”Martínez analyzed.
Leandro Paredes, for his part, made a similar analysis and also drew a contrast with the European competition: “Unfortunately we have to play in these conditions. When we want to compare ourselves with European football, these are the big differences”. While Lionel Messi, in a press conference, validated his teammates’ criticism of the conditions of the pitch at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium: “The court didn’t help much, but it was an accumulation of things that made the game difficult. We always try the same regardless of the state of the courts, it is true that it gets much more complicated, you have to be very precise and with the court like this you need more time to control.”
