The game is scheduled for Sunday at Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. Last week, one player from Flamengo, the soccer team that calls Maracanã Stadium its home, criticized the field’s conditions.
“There’s no need to talk about the field, everyone can see it,” Flamengo goalie Agustín Rossi said to ESPN, via GE. “The way we play, it’s unbelievable to have a field like this. Both penalty areas are terrible … If you look, there are bumps everywhere … There’s still an NFL game during the break [for the FIFA international break]. After that game, I hope the field will be better.”
Surely, the Cowboys and Ravens hope the field will be better than how Rossi described when they arrive later this week. The NFL is scheduled to take over field operations Monday and has been in contact with stadium officials for a while in the lead-up to the game.
The Cowboys are scheduled to arrive in Brazil on Friday morning. They’ll see the stadium for the first time Saturday before they kickoff Sunday.
“That detail I’m not up to date on. I was asked about it before the game and I don’t know any more about it than I did then,” Jones said. “We’ll look at that and I know it’s the utmost concern to the league and the teams playing down there. We’ll obviously stay informed as we look to it and it’s front of mind now that we’ve gotten past the Washington Commanders.”
Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer said Sunday that he has “no concerns” about the field conditions.
The field was a talking point the last time the NFL played a game in Brazil. Players from both the Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles described the field at Arena Corinthians in São Paulo as slippery when they played there two years ago. Eagles running back Saquon Barkley even had to switch to cleats with longer spikes to get better footing.
“I mean, y’all saw out there that it was kind of rough to get traction,” Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts told ESPN. “Definitely challenging on that field. It’s not the type of field we’re used to playing on. We’ve had that type of field before. They had to play on it as well. I’m just happy that we found a way to figure it out as a team, overcome it.”
The Cowboys and Ravens will have to do the same.