The 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup is set to begin this week. Two of the group play games will take place at Ford Field in Detroit, including a match between the United States and Canada.
When the 1994 World Cup was played in the United States, the Silverdome served as one of the many hosts. For the matches at the Silverdome, grass was brought in since playing soccer on AstroTurf (also fondly known as cement painted green) would have been awful.
Although the FieldTurf in Ford Field is a much nicer surface than AstroTurf for soccer, grass is still being brought in for the games on Tuesday. Jennifer Hammond tweeted the above picture of the sod being installed on Saturday, and she also tweeted a picture of the U.S. Men's National Team practicing at the Lions' facility in Allen Park. After the practice the team took a picture with Bill Ford Jr.
The Lions actually hosted both the United States and Guadeloupe for practice on Sunday. Although it was necessary to bring out soccer nets and make the field longer than usual, it didn't take a lot of work to prepare the field because "no one’s been on them." Just another depressing sign of the NFL lockout.