One of the major issues at the start of the 2024 Copa América has been the condition of the pitches at various stadiums where the first group stage matches were held. Just like Argentina and Chile did before, Vinicius Junior complained about the playing field after Brazil’s debut against Costa Rica at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
“There are no excuses, but certainly the playing field is bothersome. The quality of the fields we see in the Euros is completely different from the ones here. Additionally, this year they reduced the dimensions to make it even more challenging for us,” said Vinicius.
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Many of the venues for this tournament are stadiums that typically host NFL games and have artificial turf. Although changes were made to install natural grass, the playing surfaces still presented difficulties.
In any case, that wasn’t the only challenge Vini felt during the Seleção’s draw, as he also struggled to find spaces against the team coached by Gustavo Alfaro: “He put all his players inside the box… Every time I play with the national team, I have three or four players marking me.”
Vinicius still believes in Brazil
Even so, the 23-year-old winger was self-critical: “We know we need to improve, I also know what I can improve, evolve, and do for our national team and our country.”
“We’ll take it step by step. In the next match, I am sure we will play much better because today we already understood how the competition is going to be, how the fields, the referees, and the players will be,” he added.
Brazil will play again on Friday, June 28, when they face Paraguay in the second round of Group D.
