Spain concerned about state of Geneva pitch ahead of Switzerland clash

Spain coach Luis de la Fuente and one of his key players, centre-back Aymeric Laporte, were concerned about the state of the pitch at the Stade Geneva, where Spain face Switzerland on Sunday, and admitted that it will affect the match.

"It seems that the pitch has had some kind of illness and it has affected it a lot," De la Fuente admitted. ‘We've been told it's better than it was a week ago. How would it be... We have to adapt to the circumstances, we can't do anything else".

Laporte pointed out the importance of trying to avoid mistakes caused by the state of the pitch by having control of the ball and staying in the opposition half for as many minutes as possible.

"I've seen the pitch and it's a little bit damaged. Switzerland trained this morning and you can see a lot of areas are damaged. We will have to be very attentive to the bouncing of the ball, not to slip," he told a press conference before trying it out in official training.

"There are a lot of dangerous factors at play when defending because whenever something bad happens. For both teams, it can hurt us. We'll try to stay in the opposition's half as long as possible so that it happens in another half," he said.

 

September 7, 2024