Germany wins, Musiala falls, Nagelsmann complains. When I felt like I was doing every action, dribbler Jamal Musiala said in astonishment after the national soccer team’s 2-1 win against the Netherlands: “Luckily I survived.” Thomas Müller only had two words for the field conditions: “One Craziness.”
The fact that national coach Julian Nagelsmann spoke of a “catastrophe” with regard to the turf in the Frankfurt stadium is, according to the stadium operator, not due to the quality of the turf or the subsoil.
“We were asked by the DFB to water the lawn for 13 minutes before the game. Against our advice,” said Patrik Meyer, Managing Director of Deutsche Bank Park, on Wednesday when asked by the FAZ. “We know the place best.”
When the National Football League (NFL) stopped off in Frankfurt last November, a hybrid turf was laid. “In this lawn, the grass grows through a plastic net applied to the ground, which makes it more shear-resistant and is intended to give the entire product greater stability and longevity,” Meyer said in the FAZ interview at the time. The organizers of the European Championships in Germany were also “very interested”. However, after the games, this hybrid turf was unusable. Meyer and his team of greenkeepers had the tried and tested natural turf laid again.
Tobias Rabe, Frankfurt Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 21 Jan Ehrhardt Published/Updated: Recommendations: 5 Benjamin Fischer Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 4
For the next international soccer match in Frankfurt – the Germans’ last European Championship preliminary round game against Switzerland takes place on June 23rd – Meyer already has a suggestion ready: “Please walk across the pitch and look before the game.”
