Grant Wahl: US Soccer Open to Hosting World Cup Qualifiers on Temporary Grass for Portland and Seattle

Grant Wahl, the ever present soccer journalist, had an interesting tweet yesterday with some potential for Portland to host one of those upcoming USMNT World Cup Qualifying matches. According to him the US Soccer Federation has softened its stance on temporary grass laid over turf for the purposes of hosting World Cup Qualifiers. Apparently, that was a major hurdle in getting a USMNT here in the Pacific Northwest.

Here was his tweet in full:

US Soccer now willing to stage WCQs on temporary grass. Seattle & Portland could host June games, but concert/UW graduation may prevent it.

This bodes well for those of us who have been dreaming of the day when the USMNT returned to Portland, or even Seattle.

Unfortunately, this doesn't necessarily change Merritt Paulson's stance on turf or temporary grass. He's always been a big proponent of artificial turf and, at one point, he was very critical of grass laid over turf. Whether or not he'll change his tune in order to get one of those highly coveted USMNT home games is a big question.

What would you think of laying real grass over Jeld-Wen's turf for a USMNT game? Would you be willing to drive up to Seattle to the USMNT play?