Alessandra Tarantino/Associated Press
PARIS — Ever see an immaculately trimmed field of perfectly green grass and feel a sudden urge to frolic on it with your shoes off?
World Cup soccer players do, too.
You might observe some doing that, and much more, if you were granted access to a team’s official stadium “familiarization” session, a somewhat peculiar, behind-closed-doors ritual that almost all teams conduct 24 hours before an actual match at this competition.
FIFA grants teams a half-hour window the day before a game to walk through the stadium where they are scheduled to play, so they can soak in the surroundings.