Ian Wright has hit out at the state of the World Cup final pitch, dubbing it ‘ridiculous, bobbly and poor’.
The surface at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey has come in for criticism throughout this summer’s tournament, and once again appeared dry and patchy as Spain took on Argentina on Sunday night.
With the score poised at 0-0 after a dull opening 45 minutes, ex-Arsenal striker Wright placed part of the blame on the turf on which the New York Giants play their home games.
He said on ITV: ‘For a World Cup final this pitch is ridiculous, it’s poor, it (the game) shouldn’t be on it.
‘I think Spain are playing and showing how good they are because even on a bobbly, dry pitch like this, they’re doing really good stuff.
‘I think Argentina will stay in it but, for me, Spain are passing it all over the place. It’s only a matter of time before they take one of these chances.’
Ian Wright has hit out at the state of the World Cup final pitch, dubbing it ‘ridiculous, bobbly and poor’
The turf in New Jersey has come in for criticism throughout the tournament
The 80,000-capacity MetLife sits on the outskirts of New York, which was hit by severe thunderstorms causing flooding in the hours ahead of kick-off in the sweltering east coast sunshine.
Yet the pitch had been deemed subpar by players and managers long before it was hit by rainfall.
It predominantly consists of natural grass, but the turf has been installed over an artificial surface underneath which can make it ‘dry out’ quickly when temperatures soar.
Brazil star Vinicius Jr was one of the stars who took issue with the surface earlier in the tournament, telling reporters after his country’s 1-1 draw with Morocco: ‘Because of the weather and the heat, the grass dries out quickly and the game ends up being very slow.
‘We can’t build up a rhythm. That makes things difficult because we want to move the ball from one side to the other and this disrupts our game.’
French coach Didier Deschamps later criticised the venue, saying: ‘The pitch in New York was really tough – it took a lot out of the players’ muscles.’
Wright’s comments came moments before the broadcaster’s coverage cut to the highly-anticipated half-time show, which was facilitated by a controversial interval of 30 minutes.
A star-studded half-time show featured performances from Shakira (pictured) and Justin Bieber
It featured a star-studded lineup including performances by Shakira, Burna Boy, Justin Bieber and Madonna – and even cameo appearances from footballing royalty Ronaldinho and Ronaldo.
Yet ITV’s panel of pundits – Roy Keane, Gary Neville and Wright – were left less than impressed by the show.
Keane said: ‘A bit of anti-climax but I think the people in the stadium probably enjoyed it more than us. It was nice to see Shakira.’
Wright added: ‘(Justin) Bieber should have done something a bit more upbeat to liven us up a bit.’
Neville, however, took a different view, saying: ‘I quite enjoyed it. Let’s hope that picks up the second half.’
A host of stars flooded to New Jersey for the climax of this summer’s tournament.
Before kick-off, Top Gun and Mission Impossible superstar Tom Cruise took to the pitch to give a pre-match motivational speech. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump was pictured sat in his luxury suite next to FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
Celebrity couple Timothee Chalament and Kylie Jenner were also pictured in the stands, as were Mick Jagger, Pharrell Williams, Victoria Beckham and Will Ferrell.
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