Palmeiras is concerned about Metlife's lawn after switching from synthetic to natural

EAST RUTHERFORD - Palmeiras will make its Club World Cup debut without even stepping foot on the pitch where the match against Porto will be played this Sunday, starting at 7pm. Neither the Brazilian nor the Portuguese teams were authorized by FIFA to see the new surface at the Metlife Stadium, which has just been replaced. They only walked around the pitch.

Before hosting the first games, the stadium received a new natural grass floor, replacing the old synthetic pitch. The change, completed this week, meets a requirement of FIFA, which organizes its competitions with games only in stadiums with natural grass.

Abel Ferreira and Raphael Veiga expressed concern about the condition of the pitch. "We couldn't step on the pitch, but from the outside you could see that there were some patches that had been laid recently," the midfielder reported. The players had the impression that the grass had been "patched" after the change, so the pitch didn't seem to have settled yet.

The arena was under construction for almost months. As it is normally used for American football matches, its previously small dimensions had to be expanded, adapting the stadium to the official size of a football match. According to the Club World Cup regulations, the official playing field must measure 105m long by 68m wide.

Facundo Torres said he thought the lawn was "top", even without testing it yet.

At the World Cup, Metlife will host Palmeiras' debut against Porto and the São Paulo team's next match against Al-Ahly from Egypt. Fluminense will also play there in duels against Borussia Dortmund from Germany and Ulsan HD from South Korea.

In total, the state-of-the-art arena in East Rutherford will host nine matches, including the two semi-finals and the grand final, scheduled for July 13.

The stadium will also be a star in the 2026 World Cup. So, the World Cup is an important test for the arena, which will host the big decision of next year's World Cup.