LIFE'S A PITCH Euro 2016: Wales fear the biggest night of their lives could turn into a pitch battle as Gareth Bale picks up turf
Chris Coleman and Marc Wilmots both admit concerns over the state of the Lille pitch ahead of Euro quarter-final
Posted Friday, July 01, 2016 by Thesun.co.uk
WALES fear their biggest night for 58 years could turn into a pitch battle.
Chris Coleman's men face Belgium at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Lille with a place in the Euro 2016 semi-finals at stake.
But neither side trained at the stadium yesterday — as the surface was only relaid eight days ago. Coleman went for a walk around the stadium after finishing his press conference yesterday.
And Cookie looked distinctly unimpressed with what he saw, while superstar forward Gareth Bale spotted a loose lump of turf and picked it up.
There was heavy rain across northern France yesterday afternoon and more showers are forecast for today.
Belgium coach Marc Wilmots said: "It's a great stadium, I just hope the pitch will be fine. That's always the question mark.
"To play well, you need a decent pitch and we can't be sure if that will be the case.
"The roof is closed, let's wait and see how the pitch goes. That's the most important thing."
It's the biggest game Wales have been involved in since they reached the quarter-finals of the 1958 World Cup — and lost to a Pele-inspired Brazil.
Coleman agreed and said: "We have to put this down as the biggest game our country's been involved in since, which is a great place to be.
"I don't need to ham this game up, we know what's at stake, we know we've earned it.
"It's a fantastic, positive pressure we've earned."
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