Turf Monsters

The USA's match on Monday against Canada will be played on the FieldTurf, but the Americans should be somewhat used to it by now, having played two matches on the fake stuff in the latter part of 2008 and three games total on plastic last year. No soccer player likes to play on an artificial surface, but the U.S. team has trained on it this week in Canada and finished its domestic schedule last year at Ford Field in Detroit inside the massive dome there. As far as we can figure, the USA has never lost a match on an artificial surface, although they did tie a game in Tromso, Norway in 2000 that was played on a real grass, plastic grass hybrid. You couldn't tell to look at it, but if you bent down, you could see the plastic blades among the real ones. Makes it more durable, which is needed in a place like Tromso where it’s totally dark for half the year. But we digress...If the USA has to play on an artificial surface, it's great to be playing in a fantastic soccer venue like BMO Field. Toronto FC won it's MLS match today against the New England Revolution, so the Canadians fans will be primed and ready for another good performance from their team come Monday. A crowd of 10,000 is possible, which would make for a great environment for the USA's first match in Canada since 2001.