Tribal Football

Tuchel "worried and concerned" after seeing state of the pitch England will play on

Tuchel "worried and concerned" after seeing state of the pitch England will play on
Tuchel "worried and concerned" after seeing state of the pitch England will play onIMAGN IMAGES via Reuters

England boss Thomas Tuchel has revealed he is slightly worried by the pitch his side will play on during their next game.

England face New Zealand in an international friendly at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida in one of their final games before the World Cup kicks off. 

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The Three Lions side have won just one of their last four exhibition encounters and will aim to turn their form around with just one week before the tournament begins. 

A grass field has recently been laid for the friendly and images of the pitch have raised concerns about how it has joined up. Tuchel was a shown a picture of it as his press conference, with many worried the conditions could lead to injuries in the squad. 

“I just saw it now. It will not affect my team selection because what I have heard until now is that it should be OK and we want it, of course, to be OK. 

“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. The plan is tomorrow to play 45, 45 minutes with two complete teams, to expose everyone to the same amount of minutes. 

“Then we can continue the next three days with the same load of training. That is the plan, and at the moment we stick to the plan.” 

NFL stadiums mostly use turf but have changed to natural grass in preparation for the World Cup and the state of the pitches is already starting to show before what could be a risky tournament begins. 

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