Notebook: Turf talk heats up again
WINNIPEG, Manitoba - My main story for Monday's editions of the Inquirer and Daily News is about the U.S. team having to deal with another uproar around Hope Solo. Here are a few other tidbits from around the Women's World Cup:
Artificial turf becomes a talking point again
By now, everyone involved with the controversy surrounding the use of artificial turf at the Women's World Cup has accepted having to deal with it. But even the best preparations for the bounce and slickness of the surface can't always contend with another key factor: the surface temperature. When the sun shines on artificial turf, it can get very hot beneath players' feet. That's not the case with grass.
During Fox's broadcast of Sunday's Norway-Thailand game, it was noted that the field-level temperature at Ottawa's Lansdowne Stadium was 130 degrees fahrenheit. On Friday, when Canada was preparing for Saturday's tournament opener at Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium, star forward Melissa Tancredi told reporters that the turf there "was very hot," and acknowledged that the team would "have to take some measures before the game and at halftime to cool down."
The U.S. will have to face the heat Monday night at Winnipeg Stadium, but perhaps not to the same degree. Their game against Australia kicks off at 6:30 p.m. local time, whereas the Sunday games in Ottawa were mid-afternoon starts. And the stadium here has huge overhangs covering the sideline stands, with the field on a north-south orientation. That should block out some of the sun.
U.S. forward Alex Morgan is ready to deal with the heat if it comes.
"I've played on turf that has been logged as 160 degrees, and you couldn't even stand still on it." she said. "Hopefully it won't get that warm. We're just going to have to manage that and be ready to get out the sun whenever we can."
Goals galore in Ottawa
Thailand's 4-0 blowout loss to Norway on Sunday in Ottawa will go into the Thai history books as the nation's first ever Women's World Cup game. But everyone else will remember the contest for the celebration after Norway's third goal. Scorer Isabell Herlovsen gathered her teammates, got down on one knee in front of them and pretended to take a selfie.
Sunday's second game was even more of a blowout, as Germany's Celia Sasic and Anja Mittag both scored hat tricks in a win over Ivory Coast. But the West African World Cup debutants can still hold their heads high, because the scoreline didn't match Germany's biggest ever tournament win. That came in 2007, when the Germans beat Argentina by an 11-0 margin.