World Cup Stars Latest To Complain About Metlife Stadium Playing Surface

Even with grass grown and installed specially for the World Cup, the playing surface at MetLife Stadium has not been able to escape criticism.

Adrien Rabiot of France complained about the MetLife pitch after his team defeated Senegal, 3-1, on Tuesday.

“The pitch… I don’t even know if you can call it that. It felt more like an artificial surface – quite hard and quite rigid,” Rabiot said.

Vinicius Junior, a member of the Brazilian team, also criticized the surface after a 1-1 draw with Morocco.

“In the second half, with the heat, the pitch dries out very quickly. The game becomes very sluggish and we can’t get into our rhythm,” Vinicius said.

The stadium’s artificial surface has long been a source of complaint for NFL players, who believe the field is dangerous to play on. The stadium, being called New York New Jersey Stadium during the World Cup, is home to both the New York Giants and Jets, and the surface was last replaced before the 2023 season. A Field Turf Core surface, also used by the Atlanta Falcons, Detroit Lions, Seattle Seahawks, New England Patriots, Carolina Panthers, and Cincinnati Bengals, was installed at the time.

The playing surface got an F- minus from players in last season’s NFLPA survey. The NFL data does not back the claim that the surface is unsafe.

“MetLife Stadium had one of the lowest injury rates, not just as a synthetic, but across the league last year,” Jeff Miller said during the fall NFL owner’s meetings. “As far as how MetLife is playing, it’s playing really well, and it has been for a while.”

Odell Beckham, back with the Giants, would disagree.

FIFA put roughly a decade of research into how to best deliver grass surfaces at venues like MetLife that traditionally use Field Turf.

The grass currently installed at MetLife Stadium was grown over 10 months at Carolina Green Turf Farm in North Carolina. It was trucked to East Rutherford, N.J. shortly before the tournament began.

— ‘Kudos’ to Giants on SI for the original find.