When World Cup officials on a tour of South Africa's showpiece venues arrived at the ground today, they were confronted with a brown sandpit colonised by dozens of birds. They now face a race against time to get the stadium ready for the first game between Honduras and Chile on 16 June, followed by Italy against New Zealand on 20 June. There is local speculation that another pitch failure could force Fifa to switch the fixtures to a different venue.
Conflicting official explanations of what has gone wrong served only to sow confusion on a tour of nine cities.
World Cup organiser in race against time to get Mbombela Stadium ready
Guardian
February 28, 2010
