The United States women's soccer team is currently on top of Group D at the on-going FIFA Women's World Cup group stages eliminations with one more match remaining. However, this success seemed not enough for captain Abby Wambach. The striker thinks the pitch where the games are being held is doing more damage than good to their scoring chances.

The 35-year-old blames the artificial turf for her team's missed opportunities to score more goals in its previous matches.

"I think I score if we're on grass," said the player who holds the record for most number of goals for the United States' team to ESPN.

It is the first time in the history of FIFA Women's World Cup that all matches for the tournament, held every four years, are being carried out on artificial turf. Previous World Cups held the games on grass pitches.

For the non-player, there may not be any visible difference with the way things are done on the grass pitch and artificial turf. But the striker explained that the change has something to do with the way the ball bounces and moves on any of these pitches.

"The ball as it comes off my head against Sweden hits a dry turf and bounces higher. If it hits grass, it's harder for a goalkeeper to react, so if the ball bounces higher the goalkeeper has more time to react off the turf," elaborated Wambach.

Not only do players have to mind the bounce of the ball on the turf, Wambach admitted that she has to be more careful when it comes to her dives and movements because of the rough and abrasive surface compared to grass fields.

With grass, Wambach said, "I'm throwing my body, I'm not worried about anything. There's no second-guessing."

The 2012 FIFA World Player of the Year also said that the reason some of her headers on their recent matches were unsuccessful is because of her cautious movement on the pitch.

"In the previous game, I don't lay out and commit to those headers and that's why they glance off my head rather than me contacting them," she said, while adding, "For me, I definitely think that the U.S. has more goals if we're playing on grass."

But Wambach maintained that her team is willing to face any difficulty to achieve their goal of taking the World Cup trophy.

Wambach and other players protested against playing the FIFA Women's World Cup on an artificial pitch earlier this year. The lawsuit, which was filed against the Canadian Soccer Association and FIFA, was eventually dropped and the matches proceeded on turf pitches.