The professional sport that first embraced artificial turf — Major League Baseball in North America — has now come close to eliminating it. Yoann Gourrcuff of Olympique Lyon fought for the ball with Jonathan Brison, right, of Nancy during their game in Nancy earlier this month — and in the process appeared close to sampling Nancy’s brand new artificial turf. But soccer, after decades of fierce resistance, now appears to be headed in the opposite direction, a shift made clear as Nabil el-Yaagoubi walked across French club AS Nancy’s pristine new field on a sunny afternoon and lifted it up at the corner as if he were lifting the corner of a living room carpet.
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