Located north of the Arctic Circle and needing to cope with brutal climate situations, the Norwegian soccer staff Bodo/Glimt has a man-made taking part in discipline that is constructed to deal with absolutely anything.
Including a lot greater rivals.
That could possibly be unhealthy news for Premier League large Tottenham Hotspur when the groups meet within the Europa League semifinal second leg on Thursday.
Spurs leads 3-1 after the primary sport, however that benefit might look slender as soon as play will get underway on the Aspmyra Stadion within the fishing city of Bodo, greater than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) north of Oslo.
Despite the city having a inhabitants of round 55,000, Bodo/Glimt – unheralded outdoors of Norway – continues to tug off shock wins in opposition to well-known opponents on residence turf.
And it’s that synthetic floor that appears to be such a leveler for groups unused to taking part in in generally Arctic situations and away from conventional grass.
Evangelos Marinakis, president of the Greek staff Olympiacos, was vital after a 3-0 defeat within the Europa League in March, saying “we played on a pitch that is not like other European stadiums” and claiming one of his players “acquired injured as a result of pitch situations.”
Olympiacos gained the second leg 2-1 at residence, however was eradicated 4-2 on mixture, with Marinakis lamenting: “What actually issues is what occurred within the first match.”
It is definitely uncommon to see a high-level match just like the semifinal of a serious European competitors performed on synthetic turf, which is criticized for the best way the ball rolls and bounces compared to grass.
Sometimes known as plastic pitches, they had been banned in England in 1988 on account of larger charges of accidents and inconsistent playability. But UEFA permits accepted synthetic pitches for use as much as and together with the semifinals of its competitions – the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League.
“High-level football in (a) plastic pitch is not high-level football,” Fenerbahce manager Jose Mourinho said after a Champions League qualifying game against Lugano last July, which was also played on artificial turf. “The ball is sluggish, the gamers can’t dribble, they run with the ball and the ball stays behind. The sport is sluggish, so actually, I don’t perceive why UEFA permits Champions League on a plastic pitch.”
Scottish Premiership golf equipment have voted to ban synthetic pitches within the prime flight from the start of season 2026-2027.
World governing physique FIFA additionally permits accepted synthetic surfaces however refers to artificial pitches as grass for the boys’s World Cup within the United States, Canada, and Mexico subsequent 12 months.
Bodo/Glimt’s report at its 9,000-capacity stadium will surely appear to level to a bonus and it has performed a serious function in it turning into the primary Norwegian staff to succeed in the semifinals of a prime European membership competitors.
As nicely as Olympicos, it has gained residence video games in opposition to Lazio, Porto, Besiktas and FC Twente this season. It beat Red Star Belgrade in a house Champions League qualifier earlier within the marketing campaign, however went out on mixture.
It additionally thrashed Roma – then managed by Mourinho – 6-1 at residence within the Conference League in 2021.
A supply of encouragement for Tottenham is the truth that Bodo/Glimt has misplaced all 4 of its video games in opposition to English opposition – together with a 3-2 defeat at Manchester United this season.
Tottenham supervisor Ange Postecoglou, nonetheless, misplaced 5-1 on mixture in opposition to the Norwegians when in control of Celtic in 2022. That included a 2-0 defeat on the Aspmyra Stadion.
“It is on artificial grass, but it’s still a football game, and I’ve been there. I played there with the Celtics,” he stated afterward. “I do know the expertise and what’s vital for us is that we have to replicate what we did at this time (within the first leg).
“Irrespective of the floor, if we’re as disciplined and arranged as we had been at this time, with and with out the ball, it gained’t matter what the floor is, I believe it’ll make it actually tough for us to be stopped.”
Bodo/Glimt’s stadium is among the most northernly in world soccer at 67 levels latitude. On the west coast of Norway, the city is named a vacation spot for seeing the northern lights.
But the local weather, which might see temperatures dip as little as 4 levels Celsius (39 levels Fahrenheit) in May throughout lengthy winters, and fewer than an hour of daylight on its shortest days, makes sustaining the taking part in discipline costly and tough.
Bodo/Glimt’s underground heating and artificial turf allowed it to stage its quarterfinal in opposition to Lazio final month regardless of heavy snowfall utterly masking the bottom on the day of the sport, which might have been unlikely on grass.
Source: www.dailysabah.com