Basel´s Dutch grass in place: organisers

The new pitch comprising freshly-laid Dutch grass is in place at Basel's St-Jakob-Park stadium, Euro 2008 organisers said on Tuesday.

A spokesman said the laying of the new grass had been completed during the afternoon and in good time for quarter-finalists Portugal and Germany to practise on it Wednesday ahead of their meeting on Thursday.

“The replacement of the pitch is finished and we are now going ahead with rolling the grass. Everything has gone fine and the training of Portugal and Germany wil be able to go ahead as scheduled Wednesday,” said spokesman Pascale Voegeli.

The old pitch was sodden after last Sunday's match between the Swiss and the Portuguese, having cut up badly following the June 11 game between Switzerland and Turkey.

UEFA and the Swiss federation decided it needed replacing and elected to bring in the new grass from the Netherlands in 26 refrigerated trucks.

St. Jakob-Park will stage a second last-eight match Saturday and then a semi-final on June 25.

UEFA is picking up the 200,000 euro (300,000 dollars) bill for the operation.