THE SIDELINES : World Cup Stadium Criticized

Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, who heads the Organizing Committee of the World Cup, has criticized delays in updating Naples’ San Paolo soccer stadium and has suggested that the arena may not be ready when the tournament opens in June.

Montezemolo was especially critical of external infrastructures of the 80,000-seat arena, including parking areas and the media center. “The external part of the stadium is in disastrous condition,” he said in published reports today.

The Naples stadium will host initial World Cup matches of defending champion Argentina as well as a quarterfinals and semifinals matches of the one-month competition.

Montezemolo spoke during a visit to the stadium Sunday for the Napoli-Juventus major league match. “I don’t know if we will be able to organize the World Cup in Naples in a worthy way, in time,” he told Corriere dello Sport.

Alberto Conte, the Naples official in charge of work at the stadium, told the same newspaper, “Major problems do not exist. The stadium will be in the best condition by the start of the World Cup.”