Kevin Bishop BBC News in Manaus "I've walked around the north side of the pitch at the Arena Amazonas in Manaus. The pitch isn't in an ideal condition at that end but I would say it's not as bad as some reports make out - although I'm no expert. "There are patches where the grass is parched - brown lines running across the pitch. A small amount of what appears to be sand is visible behind the goal line but I could not see if that was the case on the pitch itself." http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/27800681 please log in to view this image A view of the Arena Amazonia, where one area of the pitch is visibly drier than the other please log in to view this image A Fifa source has said the pitch in Manaus is barren in parts because of "excessive use of fertiliser" please log in to view this image The head groundsman at the Arena Amazonia has admitted the pitch is in "bad shape"
DOWNS LEAGUE STANDARD IS ABOUT 5 LEVELS ABOVE THIS the pics above are very complimentary as to the state of the pitch, the pitch is actually about 1/3rd dead grass caused by excessive fertilizer, showing / being in rows it looks like they over ran the edges when putting it down. To have a fair surface to play on they will need to crop the grass very short as the dead grass will lie closer to the earth so causing ridges! a few billion quid spent and they screw up a few thousand pounds worth of pitch...........
