Head groundsman Carlos Botella told the BBC: “Frankly, Manaus is in bad shape.
“The maintenance has been complicated. There are no roads; all the machinery and materials had to be brought by ship. There was no fertilizer and no seeds.”
The sorry state of the pitch has worried the England manager Roy Hodgson so much that a member of England staff will be sent to check the pitch before the big match.
So far, things aren’t looking good – pictures have revealed dry brown marks across the turf that are thought to be caused by excess fertiliser.
However, a Fifa source has stated that the issues with the pitch are ‘largely cosmetic’ and it shouldn’t affect the Group D game.
Image credit: Getty
