Will Copa América's pitch conditions affect the 2026 World Cup?

Marcelo Bielsa, the fiery Argentine manager and current head coach of Uruguay, has launched a blistering attack on Copa America organisers and the United States Soccer Federation. This comes after a summer filled with controversy.

In his press conference ahead of Uruguay's third-place match against Canada on Saturday, Bielsa unleashed a broad tirade about the 2024 Copa America.

"They cannot continue to deceive us that the pitches are perfect," Bielsa raged in Spanish during Friday's presser. "They held a press conference saying that it was a visual issue, that Vinicius [was wrong], that Scaloni should not speak. Scaloni was told not to speak anymore. All threats....

"This is a plague of liars. Scaloni spoke once and dared to say that the seams [of the natural grass that they placed on the artificial grass] do not close. And the training pitches were a disaster. And Bolivia did not train, and the penalty to Brazil and all the injustices. It is a disgrace, in a country that as an organizer has [to take] responsibility."

Bielsa's rant touched on many of the most criticised aspects of this summer's Copa America. Nine of the competition's 14 venues are NFL stadiums, many of which had to lay a temporary grass pitch over their usual artificial turf pitches.

The most notorious example of this occurred during the Argentina vs. Canada semifinal match at Metlife Stadium, set to host the 2026 World Cup final, where seams between strips of grass began to show. The former Leeds United manager wasn't alone in criticiing the quality of the pitches.

Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni termed the conditions "not apt," his goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez described the pitch in Atlanta as "very bumpy" and many of the tournament's most recognizable stars, including Vinicius Junior and James Rodriguez, voiced their complaints.

Martinez was among several players to criticise the Copa America playing surfaces(Getty Images)