MOSCOW: The new World Cup stadium in Saint Petersburg was meant to boast a state-of-the-art pitch and be a showcase for Vladimir Putin´s Russia when it hosts the 2018 football bonanza.
Instead the $800 million venue, which took a decade to build, has caused more embarrassment than pride as Russian authorities scramble to salvage its pitch less than a month before it hosts the opening match of the Confederations Cup, a World Cup warm-up tournament.
Uprooted chunks of turf and bald spots on the playing surface in the first match last month at the 68,000-seat arena -- a 2-0 win by home team Zenit St Petersburg over Ural Yekaterinburg -- sparked concern that the stadium would be unsuitable for Russian Premier League matches, let alone the 2018 World Cup.
While officials played down the situation, the stadium received wide-ranging criticism including from Zenit manager Mircea Lucescu.
Now, less than a month before Russia face New Zealand at the venue on June 17, workers have begun replacing the turf in a desperate battle against time.
It is the latest chapter in a decade-long saga of spiralling bills, missed deadlines and scandal surrounding the World Cup in Russia.
"We were supposed to receive a fairytale stadium, the best in the world, in ideal condition," opposition firebrand and anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny said in an April video post.
"It was one of Russia´s most important construction projects, and money was stolen nonetheless."
Last year the former deputy governor of Saint Petersburg, Marat Oganesyan, was arrested over a fraud scheme with a firm that was supposed to provide the stadium with a video scoreboard.
Al Nassr player is "toughest opponent" for popular Premier League Hall of Fame player
Al Nassr player is back with Portugal after missing friendly against Sweden
Camp will see players prepare for upcoming series against New Zealand, England as well as T20I World Cup
From triumph to tribulation: Undertaker's WrestleMania missteps revealed
Sharing three pictures of them together, Malik captioned the post: "Happy Birthday Sana Shoaib Malik"
“I still dream to play for Pakistan,” Amir writes on X, taking back his retirement