Just two days after Megan Rapinoe tore her ACL, U.S. Women’s National Team fans got more bad news.
U.S. Soccer announced Sunday that the match between Trinidad & Tobago and the U.S. was cancelled due to poor field conditions. The match was to be played at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii, but the artificial turf did not hold up to the testing procedure performed on Saturday.
“We extend our sincere apologies to those fans who were scheduled to attend the U.S. Women’s National Team match in Hawaii,” said U.S. Soccer spokesman Neil Buethe. “Player safety is our number one priority at all times and after a thorough inspection throughout the day, we determined it was in the best interest for both teams to not play the match. We regret not being able to play in front of our fantastic, loyal fans.”
The USWNT is scheduled to return to action on Thursday in San Antonio against Trinidad & Tobago.
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What do you think of the decision to cancel the match last minute?
Share your thoughts below.
Remember: the reason they play on turf is because the revenue generated by women’s soccer games does not exceed the cost of keeping up nice grass fields.
Like I told a friend of mine, the cancellation didn’t come as a surprise to me. Someone, at some level of US Soccer, failed to do their research regarding features of Aloha Stadium and it’s artificial surface.
LA Galaxy played there in 2008, and players complained about the “unsafe” turf conditions. [Granted, the surface has been replaced since then.] Nevertheless, the field is used exclusively for high school and college football games. I’m sure my loose change would bounce sky high off the surface if tossed; and no doubt Seattle’s Century Link Field is a fluffy mattress compared to Aloha Stadium’s skinned turf. (I won’t even talk about field dimensions….)
By the way, don’t forget the crap surface the MNT played on in San Antonio against Mexico this year. Striving to be a “top tier” soccer nation also involves insuring adequate venues with international quality playing surfaces.
San Antonio’s Alamo Dome.. ya that on Wednesday!
They could not have picked more terrible turf fields for this Victory Tour!
Yeah.. MNT plays on crap fields all the time. We like to sit on our high horse and gripe about the turf in the old National Stadium in C.R., or deplorable grass in T&T or Haiti. Truth is, it’s an inexcusable embarrassment for a nation of our resources to routinely play here in the U.S. on horrible fields. Grass rolled over turf a few days before the match- how many times have we seen that?
There were photo’s posted by some of the players which showed that the field was unsafe. There were gaps in the seams as well as pits under some of the sections. Based on the photo’s I saw I have no issue with the players not wanting to play on that surface. We’ve see the same kind of thing even with NFL teams refusing to play on fields that are a hazard to the players.
No-one should have to play on fields of this condition. The promoters should have verified field conditions before committing to host the match at that stadium.
From the photos I saw the turf looked aweful. a really thin rug over concrete, with large overlap gaps that had been played on by throwball team all year. All that and it was around 60 yards wide; compacting the play – making injury more likely.
A major injury to any of the USA or TT would be a huge career hit. No need to walk into situations like this, unless they were planning on never breaking a jog
Injury concerns, player requests or purely psychological. There’s many reasons why turf should not be utilized for the game of soccer. Perhaps more important than all of those factors: THE PRODUCT SUCKS TO WATCH.
Watching a match on turf is a joke and simply looks amateur. This team and what they’ve accomplished deserve better. Carli Lloyd pointed out this was the 8th out of 10 matches that would have been played on turf in their “victory tour”. Completely disrespectful to the players and to the supporters.
I have no idea why AMPhibian has taken a hard stance on something so obvious to anyone with an ounce of sincerity. The product absolutely sucks, and any excuse defending it can’t be taken seriously.
This game was going to look amateur no matter what. They were playing Trinidad and Tobago for goodness sake. The USSF (and the women players themselves are complicit) is scheduling a bunch of games in crap venues against crap teams to make money and extend the players’ personality cults. If you want a “pro” level game go play England at Wimbley or invite Germany to play at Red Bull Arena.
Grass or nothing…the fact that MLS keeps allowing new teams like Atlanta to play on artificial turf is disgusting.
That Sounders “turf”, as we all know is abomination. Not watching Sounders home games for that reason alone.
No other league in the world that takes itself seriously plays on that garbage….
Grass or nothing. Shouldnt have to put up with this crap
I understand player safety is an issue, but my primary feeling is just play and adjust your game.
I’ve played on concrete and asphalt with potholes, sports court, gravel, slopes, fields with cow pies, lumpy bunch grass, etc. and never got seriously hurt or saw anyone I was playing with get seriously hurt. We did it for joy too, not because we were going to get paid or because anyone was there to watch us. I don’t like how my point is sounding, but unless there are shards of glass on the field or used syringes, why not play? The pitch can’t be that bad.
If the field sucks, play a different style of game strategically and tactically. Play more long balls and hold up in the attacking third, let the other team slide tackle and leap for headers but stay on your feet for anything except to secure a sure chance for them or you.
Either way though, play or don’t, it upsets me that this announcement comes a day before the game was supposed to take place. Unprofessional.
Oh, and I love the USWNT!
Youre joking right. One of our players rips up her knee and you say just go out there and play no matter the conditions? Comparing to your crappy rec league doesnt make the low standards acceptable.
Third time she had this exact injury. It happened on grass, not at the stadium. Nobody else, including Rapinoe, blamed the practice pitch.
The women are trying to make a point about how they don’t get to play on field conditions like the men, which is valid and commendable, but they don’t need to make these statements at the expense of hundreds of fans who were expecting to watch them play. They’re really saying that they’re tired of playing on turf. They won the world cup playing primarily on turf, and their professional league has a lot of turf, and I didn’t see too many injuries caused by the playing surface there. The USWNT actually has an advantage on turf as far as I can tell, considering the way they like to play the game.
Frist you date a pig now this. Youve got issues man