After a heavy schedule of rugby matches having hosted Six Nations rugby, the ground staff at Millennium stadium is feverishly working to get the pitch ready for the Euro 2012 Wales sellout against rival England. Stadium manager Gerry Toms says the pitch will be ready for the first football match to be played in 18 months at the stadium.
In the past, when qualifying games for major tournaments had been staged at the Millennium some high profile stars such as Craig Bellamy and James Collins had been very outspoken and critical of the status of the pitch. Saying things like the pitch is not good to play football on or than it was horrendous.
There have been complaints that rugby players and their games get preference over those of football saying that it is not a great pitch because it is a rugby pitch and that they are not looked after here at this stadium.
The stadium manager Toms is confident the pitch will be ready and in excellent shape for the Football Association of Wales mentioning that because the stadium is multi-event stadium the criticism in the past has been quite fair but that they work hard to get the best surface possible for every event that is staged.
The last match was Wales against Ireland at the Six Nations on March 12, so the pitch will have had a very important two weeks without any competitions. The improved weather conditions in the past couple of weeks are a relief after one of the worst winters in years and a busy schedule and this will give additional help to getting the pitch in shape for European qualifying.