MetLife Stadium’s new World Cup grass already getting poor reviews: ‘Hope we find better pitches’
MetLife Stadium's new World Cup grass already getting poor reviews
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World Cup 2026
Soccer
MetLife Stadium’s new World Cup grass already getting poor reviews: ‘Hope we find better pitches’
By Jonathan Lehman Published June 23, 2026, 1:01 a.m. ETSee more of our coverage in your search results.
Add The New York Post on GoogleTheir grass is showing.
The artificial turf field at MetLife Stadium was replaced by a natural grass playing surface in advance of this summer’s World Cup.
The project — encompassing years of R and D and an early May install — was designed to take the maligned home field of the Giants and Jets and make it fit for a procession of visiting soccer superstars and eventually the World Cup final, which is set for the venue (New York New Jersey Stadium in the official parlance) on July 19.
But that grass field received a string of salty reviews — yellow cards, if you will — from the first teams to play at the Meadowlands in the group stage of the World Cup.
“Well, the pitch was … I don’t know if I’d even call it that,” France’s Adrien Rabiot snarked after last Tuesday’s tilt against Senegal. “It seemed more like an artificial pitch. It was hard and rigid, but it’s like that for every team. … I hope we find better pitches in our other games.”
France manager Didier Deschamps called it a “special surface,” not in a nice way.
“We need to get used to this,” he said. “There might be some cement below the grass. You have very short shards of grass here.”
Part of the World Cup’s grass mandate, which affected eight stadiums across North America, is due to the different conditions optimal for soccer — the beauty in the beautiful game involves the ball rolling and skipping over the pitch in a certain way — as opposed to American football.
“Because of the weather and the heat, the grass dries out quickly and the game ends up being very slow,” Brazil superstar Vinicius Junior said after his team opened its tournament with a draw against Morocco at MetLife. “We want to move the ball from one side to the other, and this disrupts our game.”
The threat of injury also looms in the background of the MetLife surface swap.
The stadium’s turf has been blamed in recent years for Aaron Rodgers tearing his Achilles and Malik Nabers tearing his ACL, to name two prominent examples (though catastrophic football injuries happen on grass as well).
No one, from tournament organizers to the club teams that employ the players with nine-figure transfer values to the fans who paid through the nose to attend, wants to see anything like that.
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“The pitch in New York was really tough — it took a lot out of the players’ muscles,” Deschamps said this week.
Monday night’s 3-2 win for Norway over Senegal — under gray skies that had covered the region in heavy rainfall during the day — was the third of eight matches being hosted at MetLife.
Third down, goal to go.
The feedback after this one was apparently improved. The extra moisture seemed to help.
Every match of the FIFA World Cup will air on either FOX or FOX Sports 1. If you don’t have cable, you can take advantage of a DIRECTV free trial to stream it all.
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“My players like when it’s been watered,” Senegal coach Pape Thiaw said. “There was rain today, so it’s a good thing for the pitch. My players didn’t complain.”
Norway’s Fredrik André Bjørkan told The Post the field was “a little bit harder, the ball moves a little different.” But the Norwegians, hailing from northern climes, are used to peculiar surfaces.
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“We played on artificial grass our whole youth, so for us, no problem,” Patrick Berg said. “Good footballers, with good technique, they handle the surface.”
As kickoff approached Monday in East Rutherford, there were just a few slightly discolored patches of grass visible from above.
“The pitches at all 16 FIFA World Cup 2026 stadiums remain in excellent condition from both a playability and player safety perspective,” FIFA said in a statement shared with The Post. “While there have been comments regarding the visual appearance of certain areas of the playing surface at NYNJ Stadium, FIFA’s Turf Management Team’s assessment is that every pitch is healthy and performing as intended for elite competition.”
MetLife’s grass mostly needs to be ready for the global showcase of the final, in a little less than four weeks’ time. Until then, they’re playing the lawn game.
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Badenoch blasts 'moaning' female Labour MPs over Burnham jobs 'quota'
Kemi Badenoch has told Labour women to earn a job in Andy Burnham's Cabinet instead of demanding they are handed jobs because of their gender.
The Tory leader lashed out today amid reports that female MPs are demanding the de-facto new prime minister introduce a 50:50 gender split 'quota' in his government.
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister also complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts.
But in a scathing article in the Times today Mrs Badenoch told them to 'stop moaning' and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'.
'There are many, many reasons why you shouldn't have any Milibands in the cabinet,' she said.
'But complaining that the boys haven't given them the right jobs or that the boys are taking all the jobs, just shows that Labour's women still don't get it.'
The idea of quotas was also attacked by Baroness Jacqui Smith, Labour's Skills Minister.
Asked by Times Radio if Mr Burnham should reserve jobs for women, she said: 'No, I think what Andy Burnham should be doing is building the very best team around him to change this country.'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband (above, right, in 2010) is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts
But Mrs Badenoch told them to pipe down and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party and seen by the BBC has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs after he succeeds Sir Keir Starmer.
'We are asking you to demonstrate this change from day one and address the toxicity and misogyny within our own party and government,' it said.
Labour has never had a female leader, while the Conservatives have had three, and Mrs Badenoch urged the government to follow its meritocratic example.
'If you run a meritocracy, then you do not have to worry about jobs for the boys,' she wrote.
'Every woman who is a Conservative MP, every woman who has ever won the leadership, has had to fight to get where she is.
'By contrast, Labour women are demanding guarantees from Burnham. But the truth is he doesn't have to give any guarantees.
'If none of Labour's women are prepared to get their hands dirty and challenge him for the leadership, their demands are toothless.'
'In fact, it's quite revealing that the women's parliamentary Labour Party has written to Burnham asking him to commit himself to at least 50 per cent female ministers.
'This has nothing to do with meritocracy. It is yet more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country.'
