St. Petersburg's 69,000-seat Krestovsky Stadium "opened two months before the Confederations Cup, but concerns remain over the venue's readiness," according to Samindra Kunti of INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL. On Saturday, Russian Premier League side Zenit St. Petersburg "welcomed" Ural Yekaterinburg to its new, purpose-built World Cup stadium. The stadium was "only partly full," with the top tier "closed to the public." The completion and opening of the stadium had been a "long time in the making after a decade of scandals over bloated construction bills and missed deadlines." Building work began in '07, but the arena was criticized for a "budget overrun" of 41B rubles. The stadium will "welcome the opening match and final of the Confederations Cup." Next year, the venue will host a World Cup semifinal (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 4/24). The AFP reported fears are growing over the "state of the pitch" at St. Petersburg's new stadium "after it cut up badly during the first match played on it." TV pictures of Saturday's match "showed uprooted pieces of turf and bald spots." Zenit Manager Mircea Lucescu, who "expressed his concerns ahead of the match," said that the state of the pitch had been "not very good" and affected his team's play. However, 2018 World Cup Organizing Committee CEO Alexei Sorokin said that the pitch "would be in adequate condition for the Confederations Cup kick-off." Sorokin: "The experts said the pitch here needs some time to firm up. The grass is too young so far, but in every new game here, its condition will become better and better" (AFP, 4/23).