SAO PAULO - The World Cup stadium in the Brazilian host city of Cuiaba is staging its first official match with only half of its seats installed and construction work still underway.
[b]Nikola Vucevic Jersey[/b] . The Arena Pantanal will open on Wednesday with a Brazilian Cup match between Santos and Mixto, but work is far from complete at the stadium, one of three yet to be declared ready for the World Cup in two months time. The official inauguration is set for April 26. The opening match in Cuiaba comes a day after labour officials prevented construction from resuming in part of the stadium hosting the World Cup opener in Sao Paulo. The decision was made because of safety concerns following a workers death over the weekend, the third at the venue and seventh overall. As in most World Cup stadiums in Brazil, infrastructure work around the Arena Pantanal continues at full speed, with bulldozers, cranes and dump trucks still at the site as hundreds of workers try to finish access roads, sidewalks and temporary structures. Wednesdays match will have limited attendance because organizers could only install about 20,000 of the 41,000 seats at the stadium. Fans will only occupy the lower seating sections. The delay came in part because the initial bidding process for the seats was suspended over prosecutors claims that they were overpriced. A court battle ensued over the suppliers and the installation took longer than expected to begin. The match is not going to be considered an official test event for local the World Cup organizing committee in part because not all security measures will be in place. The stadium was one of the six that were not finished by the end of last year as expected by FIFA. Sao Paulo was already behind schedule even before the death of a 23-year-old worker on Saturday, which prompted labour officials to halt the installation of the temporary seats that will be needed for the Brazil-Croatia opener. Work isnt expected to resume until next week as constructors scramble to add safety features to the site. Local organizers and FIFA said the work stoppage is not expected to significantly delay the stadiums date of completion. Local officials said it will be inaugurated in April, but FIFA expects the stadium fully ready only in mid-May, about a month before the opener. The Arena da Baixada, in the southern city of Curitiba, is also expected to be ready in May. But last week the local governments watchdog group recommended a halt on public financing for the stadiums renovation until organizers can explain alleged irregularities in the stadiums budget. FIFA almost excluded Curitiba from the tournament earlier this year because of the delays at the stadium.
[b]Terrence Ross Jersey[/b] . Vinci also beat Dulgheru last week in Bucharest en route to her first WTA final in a year. Vinci next faces sixth-seeded Kurumi Nara of Japan, who beat Czech qualifier Katerina Siniakova 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-2. No.
[b]Timofey Mozgov Jersey[/b] . CNN and Gazzetta dello Sport reporter Tancredi Palmeri broke the news via Twitter Tuesday afternoon. Italian Football Association President Giancarlo Abete has also resigned, according to Palmeri.CARSON, Calif. -- The Los Angeles Galaxy have signed coach Bruce Arena to a multi-year contract extension. Terms of the deal were not released when the extension was announced Thursday. Arena, a three-time MLS coach of the year, joined the Galaxy in 2008 and has ledd the club to MLS titles in 2011 and 2012.
[b]Melvin Frazier Magic Jersey[/b]. He has an 82-46-44 regular-season record with Los Angeles. Arena said in a release that he is honoured to remain with what he called the "pre-eminent soccer club in the United States." ' ' '
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