South American football's governing body, Conmebol, has defended the quality of playing surfaces at the 2024 Copa América in the United States following multiple complaints from participating teams.
After defending champion Argentina beat Canada in the opening match on June 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, both teams criticized the grass field, which replaced the usual artificial turf. Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez called the field a “disaster.” Canadian defender Kamal Miller said it looked hollow.
Following Brazil's 4-1 victory over Paraguay at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Friday, Brazilian Vinícius Júnior said the Copa América is “always difficult because of the fields.”
Conmebol officials said those complaints were about the visual appearance of the turf. In some parts of the field, the ends of tufts of grass were visible, but there were no differences in level, officials said. At MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, there were brown stains along the sideline.
“Aesthetics can give the wrong perception,” said Frederico Nantes, Conmebol's director of competitions and operations. He said tests were carried out before and after matches to evaluate the pitch and how the ball moved and hit, and said all had good results.
By the second game in Atlanta, the turf's seams were gone and the stadium looked much improved, so no one was talking about it, Kuhn said.
Eight of the stadiums will host the 2026 World Cup and renovations are planned that will allow for the construction of larger fields within two years. For the World Cup, FIFA usually takes control of the stadiums about a month in advance.
CONMEBOL officials said the process of installing temporary pitches for the Copa America began a year ago.
The grass grown in specially selected nurseries is glued to plastic sheets that adhere to the surface of the field. It is transported by truck and placed using a process that takes into account every detail, from irrigation to sunlight and where the trucks pass to deposit it on the field, the organization said.
Conmebol also said that the playing surface at Hard Rock Stadium will be in excellent condition for the Copa America final on July 14.
The turf at the NFL's Dolphins stadium in Miami Gardens was removed Sunday for Colombian artist Feid's July 6 concert. Installation of a new turf will begin July 8 and is expected to be completed four days before the South American championship final.
“We hope it's in excellent condition,” said Maristela Kuhn, an agricultural engineer at the South American Football Confederation and coordinator of the 2024 Copa América turf project, on Monday. “It's in the same condition it was in for the first match.”
Two first-round matches were played at the Hard Rock: on June 23, Uruguay defeated Panama 3-1 and on Saturday, Argentina defeated Peru 2-0.
Kuhn spoke to The Associated Press after a news conference where she and other CONMEBOL officials explained that Miami will be the only stadium to undergo changes to its turf. The change was planned before the start of the tournament because of the concert.
Miami's stadium maintains a grass surface during the NFL season, but six of the 14 stadiums used in the tournament had grass fields installed over an artificial surface. The fields are also slightly smaller than the international standard, 100 by 64 metres (109 by 70 yards) instead of 105 by 68 metres (115 by 74 yards).
Nearly one million people will attend Copa America group stage matches. The highest-attendance game was Argentina vs. Chile, which drew 81,106 people at MetLife, the site of the 2026 World Cup final. Forty percent of group stage matches were sold out.
Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report.
