Rabiot Critiques MetLife Stadium Pitch After World Cup Win
Adrien Rabiot walked off the MetLife Stadium pitch with three points in his pocket and a win on the board – but very little love for the surface beneath his boots.
France opened their World Cup campaign with a 3-1 victory over Senegal in New Jersey on Tuesday, a professional, controlled performance in a venue more used to helmets and shoulder pads than high-tempo international football. Rabiot, 31, started, finished, and shaped the game, setting up Bradley Barcola for Les Bleus’ second goal.
Then he turned his attention to the grass.
“The pitch... I don't even know if you can call it that. It felt more like an artificial surface – quite hard and quite rigid,” he said afterwards, his frustration cutting through the glow of the win.
A World Cup final on a surface under fire
The New York New Jersey Stadium – better known as MetLife Stadium, home of the New York Giants and New York Jets – is one of the showpiece venues of this World Cup. It will stage England’s final group game against Panama on 27 June. It will also host the World Cup final on 19 July.
Right now, its most influential performers are not impressed.
Rabiot’s criticism follows a warning shot from Brazil star Vinicius Junior, who complained about the conditions after his side’s 1-1 draw with Morocco in their opening fixture at the same ground.
“In the second half, with the heat, the pitch dries out very quickly. The game becomes very sluggish and we can't get into our rhythm,” Vinicius said.
Two of the tournament’s leading attacking talents, from two different footballing cultures, arriving at the same conclusion: the ball doesn’t move, the game slows, the rhythm dies.
From ‘MetLife curse’ to World Cup stage
For the World Cup, MetLife’s notorious artificial turf has been covered by a temporary grass surface. On paper, a solution. In practice, a talking point.
The stadium’s synthetic field already carried an ugly reputation in the NFL. The so-called “MetLife curse” grew with each serious injury suffered there. Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers tore his anterior cruciate ligament on that turf in September, one of the most high-profile casualties and another name on a list that made players wince whenever the fixture list sent them to East Rutherford.
Now the artificial base is hidden, but not forgotten. A temporary grass layer sits on top, laid to meet football’s demands and FIFA’s standards. Rabiot and Vinicius have made it clear that, for the players, the solution feels far from perfect: too hard, too dry, too close in feel to the surface it’s meant to replace.
The pressure finally told this week, not in a goalmouth scramble, but in the post-match mixed zone.
A tournament wrestling with its own stage
MetLife is not alone. A total of eight temporary grass pitches have been installed across 16 World Cup host venues, a vast logistical operation stretching across a continent and a summer. Boston Stadium, where Scotland edged Haiti 1-0 in their opening Group C match last week, is working off the same template.
Scotland return there for their second group game against Morocco on Friday (23:00 BST), another elite fixture played on grass that only recently arrived. Every turn, every tackle, every awkward bounce will be watched with a little more scrutiny now that players have spoken out.
Back in New Jersey, the schedule moves on. Senegal, beaten by France but far from out of the tournament, face Norway at MetLife on 22 June. England and Panama will follow. Then, eventually, the world’s eyes will turn to the same surface for the final itself.
The football will decide the champion. But as the complaints grow louder, one question lingers over this gleaming NFL cathedral dressed up for the global game: can the pitch rise to the occasion as well as the players are expected to?
