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When the United States plays Mexico on Wednesday night at the Alamodome in San Antonio, TX, they will do so on a pitch that is one step above "totally and absolutely awful." And that one step will have been made in the 24 hours leading up to the match.
The venue laid down temporary grass at the stadium just days before the match, which is problematic considering that temporary grass is usually terrible anyway. The result is a pitch so bad that there were reports Mexico was considering canceling the match because the playing surface was unsafe.
This is what it looked like on Tuesday, a day before the match.
The pitch inside the Alamodome for USA vs. Mexico. pic.twitter.com/eziEat2Pzb
— ESPN Tri (@ESPNFCtri) April 14, 2015
That is downright atrocious.
U.S. Soccer came out and quickly denied the possibility of the match being canceled. They acknowledged that the grass needed some work, but that improvements would be made in the 24 hours leading up to the match so it would be a playable surface.
This is hardly the first time temporary grass has caused an issue. Frankly, artificial turf is a better option than temporary grass, but the soccer world is still scared of the word "turf" and inherently believes that anything grass is superior.
There are a lot of reasons that the U.S. and Mexico are playing at the Alamodome and all of those reasons are the millions of dollars that will be generated. But hopefully this never happens again. Either play in a stadium with grass or good turf and leave it at that. The temporary grass nonsense has gone on long enough.