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30 days out, Los Angeles is ready for the World Cup. The playing surface? Not just yet

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — With 30 days to go until its first match, Los Angeles is ready with transportation and food for the World Cup. The playing surface? Not just yet.

The U.S. men open at SoFi Stadium (to be known as Los Angeles Stadium) against Paraguay on June 12, the first of eight matches to be played at the NFL stadium in Inglewood.

The field was all dirt on Tuesday.

That changes Wednesday, when sod arrives after a 1,600-mile trip in refrigerated trucks from Washington state. It’ll be installed over two days.

“This surface is the players’ stage,” said Otto Benedict, senior vice president of facilities and campus operation for SoFi Stadium.

Construction on the field began April 13 after the stadium hosted a Monster Jam event in which 12,000-pound trucks competed in racing, skills and freestyle competitions.

The stadium modified the field shared by the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers in two phases. Auxiliary space and wider dimensions were created by removing corner seats to meet FIFA specifications, and a sophisticated irrigation system was installed to maintain the grass.

“To be the place where the energy first ignites, where the home crowd gets to set the tone for the rest of the tournament is a responsibility we don’t take lightly,” Benedict said.

Construction, landscape, grass and engineering crews were applauded by local World Cup organizers and community ambassador Magic Johnson, who pointed out his suite where he’ll be watching.

“When you think about the financial impact it’s going to have on Los Angeles, it’s going to be amazing,” said Johnson, who is a co-owner of LAFC in Major League Soccer and the Washington Spirit of the National Women’s Soccer League.

Already coming down was signage advertising the stadium’s usual sponsors.

Tours of the stadium during the tournament are being sold for $86.50. Still available are premium seating, suites and hospitality packages.

Fans can choose from a variety of food and drink options. Among the items on display Tuesday was salsa verde aguachile with lime marinated shrimp, kettle cooked crispy pickles, stone fruit panzanella, spiced lamb rack, smoked salmon mousse, petite beef burgers, tune poke and aged ribeye cap with bordelaise and mashed potatoes.

Desserts include a World Cup trophy made of chocolate mousse, raspberry, chocolate crunch and chocolate sponge and a soccer ball filled with vanilla mousse, peach, strawberry crunch and vanilla sponge.

Metro debuted special edition TAP cards featuring three FIFA-themed designs, 17 country-specific designs, four FIFA collector cards, including a light-up card, and a collector’s box.

“We want to provide a system that is safe, fast and fun,” Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins said.

Metro is working with 11 other transit lines in the region to offer direct-to-stadium bus service for $3.75 roundtrip from 15 park-and-ride lots in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Reserved parking lots range in price from $55 to more than $100. Fans can access 300 dedicated buses to every match in an effort to avoid disrupting service to Metro’s regular riders.

The official FIFA Fan Festival will be held June 11-14 at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum with big screens showing games. Ten fan zones around Los Angeles County will host activities and watch parties.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Grandfather recovering from surgery after bison attack at Yellowstone sent him flying

By WTOP Staff
(CNN) — What started as a yearly trip for a grandfather and his grandson turned into a visit to a Montana hospital after a bison attack at Yellowstone National Park.Carl McDaniel, 65, was hospitalized with a broken femur after a bison charged and tossed him into the air Friday evening at the park’s Bridge Bay Campground, according to McDaniel and the National Park Service.He was visiting the park with his 13-year-old grandson when they decided to take a walk after dinner.Along the way, they encountered a large bison that appeared to be rolling around in the dust and was not bothering anyone, McDaniel told CNN.“We were about a hundred yards away,” McDaniel said. “He was not aggressive; he was not having problems and we took some pictures and decided to walk on.”McDaniel and his grandson snapped a quick photo and continued with their walk, video of the encounter shows. At the same time, a truck drove by, and the driver laid on his horn in what appeared to be an attempt to get the bison to move, McDaniel said. There is no audio on the video.The bison then appeared to become agitated and began running toward the pair.“There was little time to decide what to do. At that point, he was within 100 yards; he could be to us in seconds, so I told my grandson to run in one direction and I went the other to try and draw him away,” McDaniel said.The animal then pushed McDaniel with the top of its head, sending him flying into the air before he hit the ground, the grandfather said.“When I was on the ground immobile, unable to move, he was right on top of me. He could have stomped on me, he could have gored me, he could have done almost anything to take my life, and he did not do so,” McDaniel said.After McDaniel hit the ground, photographer Mike MacLeod, who captured the encounter on video, had to step in, he told Cowboy State Daily.“I was really afraid he was going to gore the guy on the ground, so I stopped videotaping and ran at the bison, yelled loud, and was trying to be as big and intimidating as possible,” MacLeod said.After the bison took off, people rushed over to McDaniel, who was in a lot of pain, MacLeod told Cowboy State Daily. Yellowstone EMS arrived soon after, he said.“Park emergency medical personnel responded and transported him to a nearby hospital,” the National Park Service said in confirming the incident in a statement to CNN.This is the second bison attack at Yellowstone this year. A 12-year-old was injured near Mud Volcano on June 26, according to the agency.After Friday’s attack, “all the people that were there were amazing; they were all positive, they were trying to help as best they could,” McDaniel said. A nurse started tending to his leg, while another bystander held his head.He was then transferred to a hospital in Bozeman, a two-hour journey during which he was in intense pain. He said he was grateful for the paramedic who helped him along the way.McDaniel broke his femur, the body’s strongest bone, in four places near his hip and suffered several bruises. He had surgery Sunday and could stand by Monday.“I will be doing physical therapy for the next few days to get to walk, but it was not as catastrophic as it could have been,” McDaniel said.The National Park Service advises visitors to stay at least 25 yards away from bison at all times and to never approach the animals. “If the bison follows you, spray bear spray as you are moving away, and seek cover behind nearby trees or cars,” the agency said.Correction: An earlier version of this story understated how far visitors should stay away from bison. The National Park Service advises visitors to stay at least 25 yards from them.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
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