Confirmed: 2015 World Cup to be played on artificial surface

That decision is so wrong on so many levels. What an insult to the women.

 

Not sure why anyone's surprised. I thought it was pretty certain to be the case after the Olympic Qualifying was on turf.

 

How many of the 2015 WWC matches will be played indoors?

 

Only 2 of the stadiums have full roofs, BC Place in Vancouver (which is retractable) and Olympic Stadium in Montréal (which I believe is supposed to be retractable but not functioning). BC Place and Olympic Stadium are each hosting 9 games, so that will be a minimum of 9 indoors, maximum of 18.

 

So there's a "slim" chance we can see snow in the early June games?
It's nice to get a few matches in the rain and/or the wind.
We prefer different variations among weather and climate in all the matches, instead of the same conditions. It makes everything more interesting.

If Canada and Norway are in the same group.
Would love to see a match between them in the cold, with potential snow showers or flurries.

 

Not sure where you're getting that out of my comment. BC Place is the only one with a retractable roof and no, it won't snow there in June. The roof would most likely close for rain, as that's what it was built for (not for snow).

 

I don't like world cup games indoors.
Maybe a couple of them at most.
Soccer at the highest level in the highest of stakes was meant to be played outside.

 

Well that settles it. Alex Morgan is unhappy. We can't have that.

 

Which means this will be changed. Girl gets her way all the time.
If some on the team want Arby's, & Morgan wants McDonald's, guess where the bus is ending up?

 

If that were true it should be Burger King then.

 

Seriously, though, it's the players who sell the event. The last thing the CSA wants is to have every interview with a top world player start with a question about how much they hate artificial turf.

But how do we get out of this situation? FIFA approved the plans. They need to pay the costs of installing temporary grass.

 

And they got plenty of time (26+ months) to get that sh*t installed.
It'll get done. Especially if Morgan commands for it to get done.

 

Just a reminder, the 2007 U-20 Men's World Cup was played on turf in Canada as well and it was the most successful version of that World Cup ever. Playing on turf is a non-issue.

 

Plus the 2012 CONCACAF Women's Olympic qualifying tournament was played on turf, and I don't remember many injuries.

 

This.

Football (equipment type) was meant to be played on grass too, but it's played on artificial grass mostly, and has far more collisions than soccer ever thought possible. On top of that, I played in the Superdome.

Soccer has injures similar to Kreiger and Daniela. Turf doesn't matter when a clumsy player collides with your knee and your foot is solidly planted.

 

The likely Concacaf entrants will be used to paying on Turf. They just formed a league where 5/8 of the games will be played on it.

 

horrible comment, has nothing to do with "collisions"

American football players run for 5- 6 seconds at a time, some for as few as 15 plays in a 3 hour time period. Even the most active offensive and defensive players are only playing about 60 plays a game. Do the math. What is that, a grand total of 3mins. of running. Whoopie Doo.

now research how many miles a soccer player runs in 90mins. Heck, even the keepers can run 4-5 miles, outfielders sometimes 7-8 miles.

and although I'm not sure how many more injuries there are on Field Turf compared to grass as FT is way better than the old carpet styles of the 70's and 80's the RECOVERY TIME alone is twice as long. How do I know this? the players themselves say it. Both men and women.

plus, unlike football, baseball, etc, in soccer the ball has a real relationship, for lack of a better term, with the playing surface. Like 95% of the time. Totally different game.

so to sum up:
ball interacts with playing surface wayyyy more than typical sport
athletes need to have actual cardiovascular fitness and run for miles on a surface they recover from twice as long.

No Turf.

 

Never heard the recovery time argument. Like to see a study.

In fact, I recently heard players complain when they played their first game on grass after a winter of paying on FieldTurf.

They said the grass was harder to run on, especially since it was a bit soft from winter rains.


And I don't think you can find a study on injuries on FIFA two star pitches. They haven't been around long enough.

 

how is playing on a soft surface a disadvantage?

http://espnfc.com/columns/story?id=452763&root=mls&cc=5901

Gillette Stadium has the most advanced version of FieldTurf. Aesthetically, the surface is a major improvement on the ripped-up grass field which became the victim of concerts, a film set, NFL games, and the weather. As Revolution coach Steve Nicol said, the Gillette FieldTurf is a much better playing surface than others, but "there is no give in it. Grass is still the best surface."


http://www.synturf.org/playersview.html

 

A couple things here.

First, Beckham apologized for his statements on artificial turf.

So he purchased it himself for his camps to play on.

And after that, he played at every stadium in the league with artificial Turf, including the Horrid Seattle turf which is not FIFA two star rated.

Second, your article is from 2007, before there were any FIFA two star pitches in the United States, so it hardly is a commentary on state of the art Turf. You may well have picked an even older article describing original AstroTurf, which was basically a carpet over asphalt.

Why don't you find a study or commentary on a FIFA two star pitch?


Gillette stadium, btw, is not on the current list of FIFA Two Star pitches, as it was not recertified. To keep the rating, they must be retested every year to make sure they have not deteriorated.


Third, what studies there are, from the American association of Sports medicine, indicate that soccer players incurred about the same number of injuries on either type of pitch, but that the nature of the injuries is different. Turf injuries tend more toward bruises and abrasion burns, while the incidence of ACL injuries is actually higher on natural grass.
One of the participants in the study is the university of Portland, which practices and has played on both surfaces. They have had 7 season ending ACL injuries over the course of the study. All were on grass.

This is also an old study, and now FIFA 2 Star specs also include abrasion testing. Newer polyethylene blends don't abrade as much. The FIFA two star documents include testimonials from international players that they abrade less than grass now.

As I said before, there aren't any studies On the most recent advances in Turf. The technology is too new.

 

I thought it might be interesting to compare the surfaces that will be used. Data is sourced from FIFA.com, Fieldturf.com, and Wikipedia.

Stadium	City	Type	Rating	Additional Details
B.C. Place	Vancouver	Polytan LigaTurf RS+	2	32 mm thick shock pad underneath the turf
Olympic Stadium	Montréal	Team Pro EF RD	2?	Removable installation with concrete pad, was 2 Star for 2007 U-20 WC, but no current FIFA.com rating
Commonwealth Stadium	Edmonton	FieldTurf Duraspine Pro	?	No rating on FIFA.com, all FieldTurf Duraspine Pro listed are 1 Star. Had natural grass for 2007 U-20 WC.
Investors Group Field	Winnipeg	FieldTurf Revolution	?	New stadium with no rating on FIFA.com, but CenturyLink Field's new FieldTurf Revolution install is 2 Star
Frank Clair Stadium	Ottawa	FieldTurf	2?	No rating on FIFA.com, was 2 Star for 2007 U-20 WC, but hasn't been replaced since first installed in 2001
Moncton Stadium	Moncton	Natural Grass

 

Becks apologized b/c for PR reasons alone, he still feels the same way and the proof is in your own quote below!
P. S. : and I'm talking about games, not a training pitch anyway

from your article:

Beckham said his feelings haven't changed about the use of FieldTurf for MLS games because of the toll the harder surface takes on the body. Four of the league's 13 teams play their home games on an artificial surface.

"I've been playing on grass since I was a young kid," he said.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
and what part of recovery don't you understand?
your own quote above says it all : "because of the toll the harder surface takes on the body"
the recovery is longer on games played on turf, plain and simple, multiple players across the spectrum of sports have said so.

 

What part of 2007 don't you understand? He's talking about Turf from before FIFA two star ratings.

He plays on Turf.

 

Good list. In order for a field to be legal for FIFA finals competitions, they will have to be grass or FIFA two star.
Some upgrading will have to be done.

The comment on Comonwealth Stadium that no FieldTurf Duraspine Pro fields are currently FIFA Two star explains Gillette stadium.

I just checked the database for Two star pitches in the USA and there at four. century Link in Seattle, Highland regional PK in Colorado, Taos Echo PK, and the U of Wisconsin.

Jeld Wen is due to be recertified this Spring.