Sport: Turf out the plastic for internationals urges Brown
Scotland skipper says synthetic football pitches have no place in international game
Scotland captain Scott Brown has slammed the use of synthetic surfaces in international football and intimated that they have no place at any level of the senior game.
Gordon Strachan’s side will try to preserve their slim World Cup qualifying hopes against Lithuania on Friday in the LFF Stadium, which is home to FK Zalgiris Vilnius and has an artificial surface.
For Brown, it will represent one of four games in the space of four weeks on a plastic pitch in three different competitions – Celtic qualifying for the Champions League on Astana’s on Wednesday night, having been in Premiership action on Kilmarnock’s last weekend, with Hamilton’s unloved surface to come for the Scottish champions a week on Friday.
Asked if World Cup qualifiers should be played on plastic, the 32-year-old midfielder was withering: “No. There is probably folk playing five-a-sides on it now over there, paying whatever they are paying. You get a lot of injuries, but it’s in the Scottish game now.
“We’ll deal with what we have to deal with, but sadly we’ve got to play on the two astroturfs here [Kilmarnock and Hamilton] and then we have to go over there [Lithuania].
“That’s three astroturfs in a couple of weeks and it’s not great for your body, but you have to deal with it.
“They [Lithuania] will be used to it more than us, but it has helped that we at Celtic have had a couple of games on astro recently.
“That’ll stand us in good stead. Astro affects everyone. It’s different for me compared to maybe other players. It’s another game for me for Scotland and, hopefully, we can get a win to do the country proud.”
Strachan could field six Celtic players in the doubleheader that will also bring Malta to Hampden next Monday, and a return to form for Stuart Armstrong could prove a timely boost for the international side.
The midfielder found himself in and out of the Celtic team recently as Brendan Rodgers claimed protracted contract negotiations affected him. However, a week after signing a new deal, on Saturday the 25-year-old’s half-time introduction proved instrumental in Celtic recovering from a goal down to claim a 1-1 draw at home to St Johnstone.
“Maybe he was affected,” said Brown, this notion rejected by Armstrong himself, “but Stu’s a very intelligent boy. He wanted to stay here and he wants to play for Scotland. He showed his qualities in the second half against St Johnstone.”
While Armstrong’s return to form is a boost, Strachan was dealt a double blow last night when striker Steven Fletcher and midfielder Tom Cairney withdrew from his squad. Fletcher of Sheffield Wednesday and Fulham’s Cairney have been sidelined with injuries.