Winter 2014 61
www.westernturfmag.com
time
event
GRASS IS GOOD
Maracanã Stadium
compete.
FIFA selected 12 venues to host
64 World Cup games. By no sur-
prise, each stadium was a natu-
ral grass surface. With so much
emphasis worldwide on sports
fields moving to artificial turf,
why did soccer's governing body
choose to go with grass?
Simply put – the players love it.
"I've always enjoyed compet-
ing at the highest level on natural
grass and I'm glad FIFA decided to
go this route with all 12 World Cup
venues," said Matt Besler, Sporting
KC and U.S. Men's National Team
defender. "I was very impressed
with the playability and condi-
tions in Brazil, especially how well
the field drained in Recife for our
final group stage match against
Germany."
So what made the 12 fields so
great?
