Poor New Jersey pitch alarms France and Brazil ahead of England's Panama clash

England face a pitch problem as well as a personnel one ahead of their final World Cup group-stage game against Panama at New York New Jersey Stadium, after France and Brazil players raised serious concerns about the surface following their own matches there.

Adrien Rabiot was blunt in his assessment after playing a full 90 minutes for France against Senegal on the temporary grass. “The pitch… I don’t even know if you can call it that,” the midfielder said. “It felt more like an artificial surface — quite hard and quite rigid.” His coach Didier Deschamps was similarly unimpressed, describing it as a “special surface” and adding: “I think there might be some cement below the grass. You have very short shards of grass.”

Vinicius Junior echoed those concerns after Brazil faced Morocco at the same venue. The Real Madrid forward pointed to the heat as a compounding factor: “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.”

The stadium normally hosts New York Giants and New York Jets NFL games on artificial turf, but is among eight World Cup venues to have laid natural grass for the tournament this summer.

England’s injury concerns add another layer of anxiety. Newcastle United full-back Tino Livramento was forced to withdraw from the squad after hurting his calf in training ahead of the opening game against Croatia. Because the injury occurred before the tournament began, England were permitted to call up Trevoh Chalobah as a replacement. Any further injuries sustained once the group stage is under way will not carry the same option.

The pitch complaints are not new to England’s camp. Jude Bellingham and Reece James both criticised similar surfaces during last summer’s Club World Cup. Bellingham said at the time: “The pitches aren’t great at all. It holds up the ball, the ball barely bounces. It’s tough on the knees as well.” James added: “The ball goes 100 feet in the air, and it bounces one metre up. It’s not what we’re used to. I feel you get a lot leggier, quicker, playing on pitches that are not so good.”

Norway versus Senegal and Ecuador against Germany are scheduled at the venue before England take to the same surface against Panama.