Jesse Marsch hopes BMO Field pitch conditions improve by World Cup: ‘Please make it perfect for the summer’
As Toronto leaves the cold winter months in the rear-view mirror and approaches the World Cup, the hope is that the pitch at BMO Field will improve in better weather conditions.
With Toronto FC and Canada both hosting matches and training sessions on the pitch, it isn’t in the best shape yet, which a handful of Canadian players pointed out after Saturday’s draw against Iceland. Toronto FC have played two of nine consecutive home matches on the pitch as they frontload their schedule to be away from home during the World Cup, while Northern Super League club AFC Toronto will also use the venue at times this season, including twice in May.
One of the major impacts on the pitch in Toronto every year is Toronto Argonauts home games in the Canadian Football League, but there has been an agreement made that will see them play their first three home games of the season on the road to help keep the pitch in better condition. The CFL season kicks off the week before the World Cup, and the Argonauts will play their “home” games in Saskatchewan, Winnipeg and Hamilton before returning to BMO Field finally in August.
Even with the stadium’s hybrid surface that mixes grass and synthetic materials to improve durability, it can take a beating.
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“Obviously the field people, the pitch workers, are very concerned about trying to keep the pitch in good shape,” Marsch told reporters on Monday. “It’s stitched here, which means that normally it can handle tougher weather conditions, but the more they put water on it for every moment, then the softer it gets.
“If it’s not perfect this week that’s okay, but please make it perfect for the summer for those important matches. I think we care a lot more about that. We had to kind of beg them on Friday to water because it was so cold and they were nice enough to do it.”
Marsch explained that teams who like to play with the ball at their feet usually like to have a slicker pitch because the ball will travel better along the grass — including his.
“Every team will say, ‘Oh yeah, we like the pitch when it’s wet’, because everyone thinks they play great football, right? We all know that’s not the truth, that not everybody plays great football,” Marsch said. “When I was at Leeds United, we wanted to pitch when we played Man City to be total shit but our grounds crew wouldn’t oblige to that.
“We do like a fast pitch, because we have a fast team and we like to play fast. We like to run, we like to play with speed and power, so we do think that in those situations it’s beneficial for us.”
The BMO Grounds crew will have a tight turnaround between matches this week, with Haiti and Iceland squaring off on Tuesday afternoon, Canada playing on Tuesday night against Tunisia and Toronto FC back in action on Saturday afternoon.
