News: 2025 FIFA Club World Cup: General [Multiple Rs]

Discussion in 'FIFA and Tournaments' started by Paul Calixte, Dec 7, 2024.

  1. M

    M Member+

    Feb 18, 2000
    Via Ventisette
    I took Bellingham's comment to be a general one about CWC piaying surfaces. Real also played a game in Miami, one of the stadia there were also complaints about at last year's Copa America.
     
  2. Philip J. Fry

    Philip J. Fry Member+

    Mexico
    Jun 12, 2013
    Club:
    Borussia Dortmund
    1937609448589304141 is not a valid tweet id
     
    Nico Limmat, jared9999 and locoxriver repped this.
  3. celito

    celito Moderator
    Staff Member

    Palmeiras
    Brazil
    Feb 28, 2005
    USA
    Club:
    Palmeiras Sao Paulo
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    Not good for the overall spectacle.
     
  4. HomietheClown

    HomietheClown Member+

    Dusselheim FC 1971
    Sep 4, 2010
    Club:
    --other--
    Depends. It probably will be organized better with Domes next year and night games.
    If Euro teams are going to complain then it will be a psychological advantage for teams that play in heat all the time (Colombia hopefully.)
     
  5. celito

    celito Moderator
    Staff Member

    Palmeiras
    Brazil
    Feb 28, 2005
    USA
    Club:
    Palmeiras Sao Paulo
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    The problem is the period between when they lay the grass and when play starts is too short. The grass doesn't have time to settle and become stable. It's like this every time friendlies are played in these stadiums where they need to lay grass down in a short period of time.
     
    nfiniti repped this.
  6. HomietheClown

    HomietheClown Member+

    Dusselheim FC 1971
    Sep 4, 2010
    Club:
    --other--
    That is fair, but I still think it is funny that Charlotte is not going to be one of the stadiums used and that is when he complained.
     
  7. HomietheClown

    HomietheClown Member+

    Dusselheim FC 1971
    Sep 4, 2010
    Club:
    --other--
    Benfica beats Bayern for the first time in 14 games.

    Wins the Group.

    Boca is officially eliminated.

    Who had that on their bingo card after the first match day?
     
    Paul Calixte repped this.
  8. HomietheClown

    HomietheClown Member+

    Dusselheim FC 1971
    Sep 4, 2010
    Club:
    --other--
    Chelsea is probably celebrating. They should be favored against Benfica.
    Flamengo will play Bayern.
     
  9. HomietheClown

    HomietheClown Member+

    Dusselheim FC 1971
    Sep 4, 2010
    Club:
    --other--
    Assuming Chelsea wins or draws against Esperance of course.
     
  10. celito

    celito Moderator
    Staff Member

    Palmeiras
    Brazil
    Feb 28, 2005
    USA
    Club:
    Palmeiras Sao Paulo
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    It's not hard to think something that happened in Charlotte couldn't in other stadiums as well. The pitch at MetLife is also bad and teams have complained.
     
  11. HomietheClown

    HomietheClown Member+

    Dusselheim FC 1971
    Sep 4, 2010
    Club:
    --other--
    As I alluded to in a previous post the stadiums being used for the World Cup are going to use better grass that has been tested for many years by University scientists.
    They will also have many months for the fields to settle so that it will be much more ideal than Charlotte.

    So it would be hard for me to think that something similar to Charlotte can happen when there is better preperation.
     
  12. BocaFan

    BocaFan Member+

    Aug 18, 2003
    Queens, NY
    Some people for sure. We were even saying on here that Benfica v Bayern will be a tight match since Bayern will probably field a B team, which they did.

    Bad for Flamengo. Not only having to play Bayern, but a rested Bayern.
     
  13. HomietheClown

    HomietheClown Member+

    Dusselheim FC 1971
    Sep 4, 2010
    Club:
    --other--
    Not sure people thought they would win the Group after going down 2-0 to Boca and never beating Bayern in their history. And Bayern looking so strong.

    Sure, saying it would be a tight match I guess seems likely.
     
  14. bigsoccertst1

    bigsoccertst1 Member+

    United States
    Sep 22, 2017
    I suggest viewing coach Enrique's entire post-match interview. Original audio helps as DAZN English translators minced his statements.

    He complained about both Seattle stadium and training surfaces being substandard, in comparison to UEFA-tournament pitches.
    Also, said that he could see how substandard surfaces would benefit certain teams, but not his.

    2025 CWC R16 match PSG vs Inter Miami will be in Atlanta, a venue heavily criticized by ARG coach+players for similar surface defects in CA 2024.

    Even USMNT player W.McKennie was aware of how players got shafted on the pitch while Conmebol lined its pockets then. Now it is FIFA's turn in 2025.

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

    “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.
    :
    “Everyone knows that football is a big business, it’s all about the dollars and money in pockets but at the end of the day we need the best conditions to be able to do what we love and get the best out of us and the best results.

    “Like I said, not having to worry about whether the ball is going to bounce 10ft in the air when it hits the ground or 1ft.”
     
  15. bigsoccertst1

    bigsoccertst1 Member+

    United States
    Sep 22, 2017
    The underlying issue is insufficient substrate under whatever hybrid grass was overlaid at each 2025 CWC venue.

    Back in May 2025, Seattle gov't approved funding for replacing Lumen Field turf... for 2026 WC matches. Today, the Seattle venue uses rolled-out hybrid grass on top of turf+padding, on top of a hard surface. No wonder the ball ricochets.

    While hybrid grass was overlaid at Atlanta ahead of 2025 CWC, the engineering firm described the short-lived CWC hybrid grass overlay while contrasting it to the planned 2026 WC surface.

    https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/at...fa-club-world-cup/SIL2N4SJ65ANRL56H5RWAUF3F4/

    Crews have worked nearly around the clock installing the hybrid turf, mostly natural with some artificial carpeting woven in.

    “This particular grass has been growing between 12-18 months,” said Nick Pappas, MBS Pitch Advisor.

    The cool-weather grass was trucked in from a sod farm in Colorado. It will need the roof closed, the temperature steady and grow lights on it for hours in between the six matches over three weeks.
    :
    “We’ll learn a lot of things this year, but a little bit of a different situation next year. We won’t do an overlay next year. We’ll do more substantial installation where we actually remove the artificial surface, remove pad beneath it, remove the asphalt, go down about 7-8 inches,” Pappas said.

    After the matches wrap up July 4th weekend, the new grass goes away and the field returns to the artificial turf underneath it.
     
    Burr repped this.
  16. Burr

    Burr Member+

    Boca Juniors
    Argentina
    Jul 8, 2014
    Tampa, FL
    Club:
    FC Tampa Bay Rowdies
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I wonder how hard it would be to book exclusively soccer specific stadiums or ones with natural grass if the CWC returns to USA. Considering they didn't exactly fill every NFL venue anyway they wouldn't be losing out much. But I wonder if it would be harder to schedule with MLS still in season. Would hope they avoid the Gold Cup clash of schedules too
     
    nfiniti repped this.
  17. Nico Limmat

    Nico Limmat Member+

    Oct 24, 1999
    Dubai, UAE
    Club:
    Grasshopper Club Zürich
    Nat'l Team:
    Switzerland
    Chelsea up 2:0 at the half against Esperance and that probably decides Group D. Both goals scored in stoppage time. Ouch.

    Nice to see Auckland City with a positive result in what is probably their last CWC match ever.
     
    dinamo_zagreb and Philip J. Fry repped this.
  18. Nico Limmat

    Nico Limmat Member+

    Oct 24, 1999
    Dubai, UAE
    Club:
    Grasshopper Club Zürich
    Nat'l Team:
    Switzerland
    Does the US have suitable 30K or 40K venues? It seems like it’s either MLS stadiums (20K) or NFL venues (60K+).
     
    nfiniti repped this.
  19. Burr

    Burr Member+

    Boca Juniors
    Argentina
    Jul 8, 2014
    Tampa, FL
    Club:
    FC Tampa Bay Rowdies
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Nashville is 30k, that's it. But there's a handful of 25+k ones if that's enough, though one is Portland which doesn't have grass.
     
    nfiniti repped this.
  20. ThreeApples

    ThreeApples Member+

    Jul 28, 1999
    Smurf Village
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Snapdragon Stadium (35K) in San Diego, home of San Diego FC and San Diego Wave, would be the most prominent example.

    There are quite a few college football stadiums in the 30-50K range, but most of them have various issues making them not very suitable. Artificial turf, narrow field space, aluminum bench seating, locations outside of major cities, would be issues applying to some, not all, of them.
     
  21. pogoss

    pogoss Member

    Wydad Casablanca
    Morocco
    Jan 15, 2017
    Japan
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    Morocco
    I really hope so !
     
  22. pogoss

    pogoss Member

    Wydad Casablanca
    Morocco
    Jan 15, 2017
    Japan
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    Morocco
    I live in Japan so I don't know all that's being said about it but I reckon Spain is also interested in hosting it so it should be done together to rehearse the cooperation in organizing.
    It will also depend on how many teams will be in it, there were some talks about a 48 teams expansion which I'm not a fan of.
     
  23. BocaFan

    BocaFan Member+

    Aug 18, 2003
    Queens, NY
    Not sure when or where Bayern looked strong. They are coming off a mediocre UCL season where they stumbled through the group stage and almost got knocked out by Celtic. Never looked like a contender to win it.

    In any case, as highlighted, they played a B team, so how strong they looked against a semi-pro team 9-10 days ago is doubly irrelevant.
     
  24. Nico Limmat

    Nico Limmat Member+

    Oct 24, 1999
    Dubai, UAE
    Club:
    Grasshopper Club Zürich
    Nat'l Team:
    Switzerland
    All of today’s matches:

    Benfica - Bayern 1:0
    Auckland City - Boca 1:1
    ES Tunis - Chelsea 0:3
    LAFC - Flamengo 1:1

    All of Chelsea’s goals happened in stoppage time.

    LAFC were very richly rewarded for their first and only goal of the tournament. Flamengo dominated that match throughout and should have won with ease.

    In summary - for LAFC. They excelled when they got the (home) MLS Leagues Cup treatment in the play-in against Club America. Not so much once they got the Liga MX Leagues Cup treatment in the tournament proper. :D

    (I.e. three different away venues in nine days)
     
    sidspaceman and DGreat repped this.
  25. Nico Limmat

    Nico Limmat Member+

    Oct 24, 1999
    Dubai, UAE
    Club:
    Grasshopper Club Zürich
    Nat'l Team:
    Switzerland

Share This Page