“The pitch was a disaster.” These were the words of Argentina’s Emiliano Martinez after playing the opening match of Copa America 2024 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. Poor pitch conditions have long been a problem in the USA’s stadiums, and this issue becomes even more concerning with the country set to host the 2026 World Cup. While some are questioning whether America is even ready to host such a prestigious tournament, USMNT star Tyler Adams rather feels confident, assuring that ‘every team would love’ to play in his nation’s stadiums.

The Bournemouth star was invited to the latest episode of the Men in Blazers podcast where host Roger Bennett reminded about all the adversities that teams faced when the US hosted the Copa. However, Adams remains optimistic that it will still go well for the host nation.

“I think that the tournament organization wasn’t brilliant. It was no World Cup by any means but I think it comes down to each federation in each organization running things differently. From a field’s perspective, it was always going to be difficult to have good fields playing in football stadiums especially when they’ve only been laid a couple weeks before the tournament,” Adams said.

The MNT skipper mentioned that FIFA’s directive to lay the pitch is 90 days. This gives a lot more time to the host nation to make the surface better. Rest, Adams believes even the visiting nations will have a great experience. “When I look at a competition like that, it’s a perfect opportunity in Copa America to have these games be played in soccer-specific stadiums and showcase what MLS has grown and how it’s grown as a league,” added the 25-year-old.

Adams agrees that tickets won’t be sold much, considering the capacity of venues is around 25-30,000, but “from an overall footballing experience, every team would love to play in MLS stadiums.” Rest, the closeness of fans and their passion come as an extra benefit.

Let’s hope that Adams turns out to be right. Otherwise, a few of the rival players have already created a negative image regarding American stadiums.

Trusting Tyler Adams in good faith as Emiliano Martinez and many have negative reviews about American stadiums

During Argentina’s 2-0 victory over Canada in the opening group stage fixture of the 2024 Copa America, Tottenham star Romero didn’t hold back in criticizing the pitch conditions of the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. The defender said, “The pitch conditions were very ugly. Having to play this competition on a pitch like this is regrettable.”

Similar was the mood of Emiliano Martinez, who also expressed his distress over the disastrous conditions. He questioned the concerned authorities and slammed them for putting “sod on top of synthetic turf, and it felt like a trampoline every time we received the ball.”

On top of that, past instances have shown that playing soccer on turf hasn’t turned out to be well. The controversial surface has always made players injury-prone. Certainly, hearing all of this may scare the eagerly contesting teams for the upcoming 2026 World Cup. However, with 2 years remaining, let’s hope that the USMNT makes necessary developments and turns out be to well hosts alongside Canada and Mexico.