Why ‘worried’ England are playing on a temporary pitch in World Cup warm-up

After being shown a picture of the playing surface that England will have to deal with for Saturday’s warm-up match against New Zealand, Three Lions boss Thomas Tuchel said he was a “little bit worried and concerned”.

England have been taking part in a training camp in West Palm Beach, Florida, and will now contest two friendlies as they continue their preparation for the tournament.

Saturday’s friendly is the first of two warm-up games for the Three Lions, with a friendly against Costa Rica coming up on Wednesday before their World Cup games begin when they take on Croatia in Dallas on Wednesday 17 June.

Why is the pitch concerning?

With under two weeks to go before their World Cup campaign begins concerns are understandable, with images of the stadium showing a pitch which the Daily Mail reported to be a “plug and play” surface.

The Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, is a multi-use venue which is the home of National Football League side the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It has hosted a Post Malone concert in recent weeks and they held an outdoor ice hockey fixture there earlier this year.

The ground is known for having its pitch relaid more than any other NFL stadium.

The venue normally features an artificial turf, but has had to be relaid to host Saturday’s match. It will also host a friendly between Leeds and Wrexham this summer.

Before the England game, a grass field has been laid, with images showing a pitch which looks patch at best and does not appear to have entirely joined up.

What has been said about the surface?

England manager Tuchel said he was slightly worried, but has been told that the surface should be okay.

“What I have heard until now is that it should be OK and we want it, of course, to be OK,” Tuchel said in his pre-match press conference.

“I saw just a photo from your colleague that made me a little bit worried and concerned, but let’s decide when we are there. If there are any issues, we can always react to it.”

New Zealand have been training at the Raymond James, with their manager Darren Bazeley saying before the match that he believes the surface will be suitable “once it gets a bit of water on it”.

“I’ll be honest, when you see it, you think, ‘That’s going to come up’, but it trained well,” Bazeley said during his press conference.

“It was fine, the ball rolled well, and I think it will be fine once it gets a bit of water on it. It was fine.”

How could it affect the game? 

Tuchel has said that the playing surface “will not affect my team selection” – but he plans to feature every player on Saturday evening.

The England manager said every player in the squad will feature for 45 minutes, with the line-up changing at half-time.

Tuchel added that “we have a greenkeeper who takes care of the pitch and I hope it will be alright”.

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Grass pitches replacing artificial surfaces was common at the 2025 Club World Cup, which led to complaints about the way the ball moved.

Paris Saint-Germain manager Luis Enrique said at the time that Fifa, football’s global governing body, needed to take the issue seriously and that he could not imagine an “NBA game played on a court full of holes”.

At the Club World Cup, England midfielder Jude Bellingham said the pitches were “not great”, with the ball holding up on some and barely bouncing and were “tough on the knees”.

Could there be similar issues throughout the World Cup?

There are a number of stadiums being used at the World Cup which lack facilities designed for football, so there will be other temporary pitches used throughout the tournament.

While the Raymond James is not hosting World Cup matches, eight of the 16 host cities will use venues with temporary pitches.

Stadiums in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New Jersey, Seattle and Vancouver usually use artificial turf and will instead have to use grass for the World Cup to meet Fifa requirements.

Following poor surfaces at the 2025 Club World Cup in the United States, Arsene Wenger, the former Arsenal manager who is now Fifa’s global football development chief, said the issues would be “rectified” for the World Cup.