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What happened to the Champion of the Century turf and how will it get to Uruguay’s matches?

The state of the playing field of the Champion of the Century stadium is in poor condition but in Peñarol work is being done so that it improves for the parties that Uruguay He will play on September 5 and 9, against Bolivia (7:00 p.m.) and Ecuador (7:30 p.m.), for the Qualifiers for the Qatar 2022 World Cup.

What happened to a court that always looks in impeccable condition? “It was affected by a fungus that affected ryegrass planted at the beginning of the year”, said Martín Álvarez, a graduate in agricultural management, who since last week has been in charge of making decisions on the playing field of the aurinegro fiefdom.

The grass has several brown areas

The Peñarol board decided days ago to unlink the agronomist Salvador Invernizzi who was the one who created the field and Álvarez, who has been the supplier of inputs to the field of play since day zero, was now in command.

Álvarez explained that the maintenance of the field is done by “the boys who have been working in Peñarol for several years and who are club officials.”

“My job is to advise Peñarol from the technical point of view of what to do and what not to do on the pitch. Those jobs that I mark are done by the Peñarol canchero, “he added.

“The playing field is obviously bad, but it is circumstantial we are doing intense work of weekly fertilizations that have been giving good results, already looks better than a couple of weeks ago, and we plan to continue like this until the date of the Uruguay matches, “explained Álvarez in dialogue with Referee.

Sporting Cristal’s coach in Wednesday’s game

“We did a soil fertility analysis and a phytopathological analysis of the plants to develop a management plan and that is what we are following. For the matches in Uruguay the field will arrive well “, advancement.

The last time the Champion of the Century had been in poor condition was in February 2018 when the turf was attacked by a back layer, a phenomenon that produced a toxic gas and anaerobic bacteria that attacked the roots of the grass.

Like any playing field, in this 2021, the field was replanted at the beginning of the year, but over the months it was attacked by the fungus, something that astonished its maintenance managers since to date this fungus had not generated damage.

Ceppelini waving to the fans, behind you can see the bad state of the playing field

With the work carried out by Invernizzi, the fungus was eliminated but brown areas were generated there that lead to the field being uneven.

From the first week of August it began to be done, with a frequency of once a week, a foliar fertilization Slow-release fertilizers have also been applied to release nutrients and the plant starts to catch on because the grass is not being watered at the moment.

On Thursday of last week the turf pairing cuts began. As Álvarez himself explained last Friday at Hour 25, which is broadcast on AM 770, against Progreso it was played with a three centimeter high grass but on Wednesday, in the victory against Sporting Cristal for the rematch of the Copa Sudamericana quarterfinals, it was cut to 2, 5 centimeters, which is the maximum allowed by Conmebol for international matches.

Álvarez also explained that the Champion of the Century field has the peculiarity that due to the height of the boxes of the Henderson Grandstand, and because of its location, it receives little sun.

This week a third fertilization will be done

“The same thing that the Champion of the Century suffered was suffered by the Central Park and the fields of the Uruguay Celeste Complex, but in the Champion of the Century it was stronger. Cold slows down all metabolic processes. Now the brown that is grass goes into dormancy in winter and the stems remain, and the green places, which are ryegrass plants, we hope they will strengthen and bring them to the same height as the dry grass, so that a flat grass forms and uniform and that although it can be seen uneven, allow the playability to be the best possible, “Álvarez told Hora 25.

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