Shocking surface gets a makeover before its debut on Sunday night.
It is just hours away from being played on for the first time this World Cup and the surface at Arena Amazonia for the England and Italy clash looks much better as of Friday.
However, the changes are merely cosmetic as workers have been seen painting the brown and barren patches green ahead of the big game.
The pitch beforehand was bare, sandy and had viably brown strips all from one goal to the other, and became a symbol for anti-World Cup supporters at the lack of readiness organisers in Brazil had for the world’s biggest sporting event.
Groundsman Carlos Botella admitted the surface was in “bad shape” and said they had implemented a emergency procedure.
“Frankly, Manaus is in bad shape,” Botella said.
“We’ve started to implement an emergency plan to try to save the field and improve it as much as possible, but I don’t think it’ll be in good condition by the weekend.
“Yesterday we put fertiliser, and we’ll increase the fertilising process with biostimulants and seeds to try to get the most out of the grass.”
Journalists based in Manaus for the Group games being staged there witnessed the painting of the pitch and said while it looks better, the underlying problems still exist.
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