Fans distracted by the state of the pitch in England’s game against Denmark

'Some of them have got roller skates on'

From kick off, it was noticeable that the grass was cutting up with the commentators sharing their frustration.

Within the opening ten minutes, Kyle Walker went down injured after getting his studs stuck in the turf and going over on his ankle.

The Manchester City defender changed his boots before returning to the pitch but fans took to Twitter to rant about quality of the Frankfurt Arena turf.

On X one fan said: “This pitch is a disgrace. Be lucky if someone doesn’t get injured on this skating rink!”

Whilst another hit out at the host nation saying: “It’s inexcusable for a big footballing country like Germany to have [a] terrible pitch like this. Literally cuts up every time these guys plant their feet.”

Others referred to its quality as a ‘Sunday League’ pitch whilst one went as far as saying that the game should be called off.

It was decided yesterday that the roof of the stadium would be closed after the heavy rain that has swept the country.

In the BBC studio Gary Lineker said: “It’s very unusual in the modern era to have a pitch that cuts up, it’s like a bowling green compared to the pitches I played on but it’s cutting up quite a bit.”

Ferdinand added: “Everyone is slipping and sliding, some of them have got roller skates on. It does happen sometimes but you’ve just got to deal with it.”

England had the chance of qualifying with a game to spare if they had beaten Demark but they could only manage a 1-1 draw and will have to wait for their game against Slovenia to guarantee qualification.