Euro champs blast Giants Stadium field

The teams on display may have been world class, but the field Real Madrid and A.S. Roma played on Thursday night at Giants Stadium was anything but.

Real's Luis Figo and Steve McManaman blasted the Giants Stadium pitch after the European Champions played to a 0-0 draw with the Italian club in front of more than 70,000 fans at the Meadowlands.

"The pitch was terrible," said Figo.

McManaman tried to be more diplomatic in his assessment, but echoed his teammate's sentiments.

"The pitch wasn't too good but I presume the Giants play a lot of games on it. It doesn't matter, it's not an excuse."

Prior to kickoff, New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority Chairman George Zoffinger declared the venue "the best stadium for soccer in the United States." But, in recent years, the playing surface at the stadium has ranged from poor to outright dangerous for the Meadowlands' regular soccer tenants, the MetroStars of MLS.

Ironically, the field was in its best condition of the year for soccer on Thursday: the last gridiron game played at the stadium was eight months ago. The friendly match marked the final soccer game of the year before NFL preseason and the football lines return with the Giants on Saturday, meaning the MetroStars will have to deal with many more ruts, lumps and bumps for their final four home games.

If the playing surface in New Jersey was not what the Real Madrid players are used to, however, the massive crowd was.

"In Europe we are used to so many people. I don't know how it is here," said Figo. "It was good to come here to play."

McManaman added: "It's funny that two clubs from Europe have to come to America to play each other, but the lads have thoroughly enjoyed it."

"We know that on the pecking order here soccer is well down, but we know that there are a lot of fans here that enjoy it. Whether we thought 70,000 would turn up, I'm not sure, but we certainly thought a few people would."