FIFA’s World Cup Under-20 tournament chief expressed his concern over the standard of some of the pitches to be used as training grounds for international teams at the forthcoming competition in Colombia, El Pais newspaper reported Friday.
Following a recent inspection and meetings with the Colombian vice President Argelino Garzon, FIFA official Inaki Alvarez said that “there is still so much to do but we on track and everything must be finished before the draw takes place on 27 April 2011.”
The Colombian organization of the event initially expected the majority of the work on the grounds to be completed the end of this month, although the tournament itself will not start until July.
The president of the Colombian Football Federation, Luis Bedova, explained the magnitude of the work involved when he said “each major city requires four training grounds and Bogota must have five. Each these grounds needs to meet FIFA’s very specific standards.”
According to engineers, most of the work is about 80% complete and will be finished in time for the tournament. To add to the complications however, World Cup construction in Cali and Manizales has been delayed as their cost exceeded the initial budget.
