SAN JOSE, Costa Rica— Issues with the lighting system at C.S. Cartaginés’ home stadium forced the match into the sparking and cavernous Estadio Nacional, but although this may hurt the locals, the LA Galaxy are excited to play at the sparkling venue.
Following training on Tuesday’s training session; I spoke to several players about the stadium conditions.
Their thoughts are below…
RAFAEL GARCIA: “It’s a big stadium with a beautiful field that is not too much different from ours. If it is wet the ball will move fast and it’s a great field that we can’t complain about.”
JACK MCBEAN: “It’s a cool stadium with a really nice field. It’s brand new and we’re excited for the game tomorrow. We’ll see if it benefits us. Last year, we went into El Salvador and played in a really rough stadium and got the result, so we’ll see.”
BRUCE ARENA: “The field is in good shape. We’re obviously looking forward to the game. The fans won’t be too close to the field, which is good.”
LANDON DONOVAN: “It should be exciting for our guys to play here. Generally you play in small stadiums with bad fields or turf, old stadiums that are weathered and worn. This will be an opportunity to play in a nice stadium, but we expect that they’ll still have a raucous crowd and it will look like an away game in CONCACAF. That has to be the mentality, and we need to do our best to get three points.”
MARCELO SARVAS: “It’s beautiful. It’s really nice and the grass is in good condition. It’s always hard to grow because it rains a lot, but it’s in great condition. It’ll be a beautiful place for a game tomorrow. I think the stadium will help them because it’s better for soccer and it’s good for a beautiful game and to try to do things right.”
