According to Sport1, the first half of the World Cup final between Spain and Argentina was lackluster, and former Freiburg coach Streich believes the problem largely stemmed from the poor pitch at the Metropolitan Life Stadium.
"This pitch is outrageous. How can it be a World Cup like this? The ball can't even roll properly. The players can't play fast or smoothly at all. The whole match was hampered by this pitch, which I saw on TV. It's such a shame," Streich complained on ZDF.
Before the match even began, commentators Kramer and Mertesacker had already expressed their shock.
“I’ve never played on a pitch like this before. It’s like a bowling lane with a carpet on it. Especially for Spain, it will be a completely different game. ... You can’t even pull it up because it’s like a carpet. It’s like a three-star hotel in Spain,” Kramer said, getting more and more excited.
Breyer pointed out that this area is usually used for NFL games, typically covered with artificial turf, then a layer of sand, before being covered with this World Cup turf. As for why the turf was in such poor condition, Cramer couldn't answer.
“The problem isn’t the ground below, it’s the grass itself. It’s low, like a carpet, kind of like Wimbledon. I’ve never seen anything like it. On a normal grass field, the ball rolls along the grass, but here it bounces around,” Cramer said, still puzzled.
