If David Beckham’s attitude toward artificial turf is anything to gauge by, his England teammates could be in for an equally unhappy time when they face Russia in a Euro 2008 qualifier in Moscow next Wednesday. The capital city’s Luzhniki Stadium had field turf installed in 2002 due to the country’s particularly harsh winters. The Russian soccer federation went with the change because freezing weather and snow can destroy a natural grass field, and replacing it comes at a high cost.
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson believes the FieldTurf could England a particularly tough time because the players aren’t used to the surface. The problem they will have is the bounce of the ball, the speed of the ball and, of course, Russia will be far more used to it than English players,” Ferguson said. “That will be a big problem, it’s not easy to handle that.” To prepare for Wednesday’s match, England coach Steve McClaren has brought in a special artificial turf field for his players to use on Sunday and Monday. England has never played an international qualifier on artificial turf.
Incidentally, the Luzhniki is the venue for next year’s Champions League final. However, natural grass will be installed especially for that game, per an order from UEFA, the competition’s organizer.