AT&T Stadium is the home of the Dallas Cowboys NFL team, but it has the ability to transform its surface into several different types of playing fields. This was put into practice for The Copa America soccer tournament, which requires real grass Instead of the artificial turf used by football players.
Mixed opinions about the turf at AT&T Stadium
The first of three Copa America games the Cowboys will host was last Friday when Chile and Peru faced off in a match that ended in a scoreless draw. Neither Chile coach Ricardo Garcia nor Peru coach Jorge Fossati were happy with the pitch. Peru captain Luis Advincula was forced to leave the match early after suffering an Achilles injury, which Fossati blamed on the turf.
“I realize this is a grass pitch today, but it's not regular grass,” Fossati said. “It is not a grass that is born and grows. It's the grass they bring in from somewhere else… that might be a little trickier and it could affect you in that particular place [the Achilles]. I'm not a doctor, but I've been playing football for a few years. Achilles tendon injuries can also be caused by this.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who came up with the vision for the stadium and is very proud of its design, wouldn't be happy to learn it doesn't live up to some teams' standards. However, the US Men's National Team had some good things to say about the court After their match against Bolivia on Sunday, which they won 2-0. This is in contrast to previous criticism of the March playing surface.
USMNT midfielders Weston McKennie and Tyler Adams commented on the stadium improvements.
“It was completely different, the stadium in the Nations League and the stadium we played on tonight.” “The conditions are much better and you can clearly see that you can play better quality football. The balls are not coming everywhere. They have done a good job,” McKennie said.
“The field is 100% better now,” Adams said. “I'm not the type of person who complains about the field too much. You still have to play football at the end of the day.” The match will not stop because of the stadium. But this stadium was 100 percent better“.
Perhaps if this is your first time playing on the field, the difference between a standard grass football field and an installed grass football field is what will stand out, while the improvements over time will be more noticeable for someone who has played on the installed grass field before.
There's one more game left for Dallas to get it right. AT&T Stadium will host the quarterfinal match between the winners of Group A and the runners-up in Group B on Friday, July 5.
