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Soccer-Wembley pitch continues to give grounds for concern

By Mike Collett

LONDON, April 20 - Manchester United and Arsenal
managers Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger rarely see eye to eye
but both were united in their condemnation of the state of the
Wembley Stadium pitch after the weekend's FA Cup semi-finals.

Neither went so far as to blame the playing surface for
their defeats, but Wenger described the pitch as an
embarrassment for a national stadium after his side lost 2-1 to
Chelsea on Saturday.

Ferguson decided to leave many of his first-team regulars
out of United's semi-final against Everton on Sunday after he
assessed the state of the pitch.

Everton manager David Moyes, whose side beat United on
penalties after a poor game ended in a goalless draw, agreed the
pitch was bad, although Chelsea's interim coach Guus Hiddink
said he saw nothing wrong with it.

The grass at Wembley has been re-laid five times since the
750 million pounds ($1.1 billion) stadium re-opened two years
ago. It has come under frequent criticism ever since.

Ferguson, who played a team mainly comprising youngsters and
reserves against Everton, said: "When I saw the pitch on
Saturday what I didn't want was to go into extra-time with my
strongest squad.

'SPONGY AND DEAD'

"It looked spongy and dead and difficult to move the ball
quickly around it.

"They've got all these lights around the perimeter to help
the growth and the standard of the soil but it looks dead to me.

"So we had to go with the bold decision of playing the
younger ones. After all, our club is built on giving young
players opportunities and they didn't disappoint."

On Saturday Wenger said the pitch was below-par.

"Frankly it is embarrassing for a national stadium. I am not
saying we lost because of the grass. It was not that. But the
quality is a disaster."

Moyes added: "The pitch is very difficult to explain. It's
spongy, it has no speed, it's difficult to get the ball to move
quickly.

"So many of the Premier League grounds are firm now and good
to play on, but they need to do something about this one."

England manager Fabio Capello has also criticised the pitch
in the past year.

There are still six more matches to be played on the pitch
before the FA Cup final on May 30, as well as eight concerts to
be held at Wembley in the summer.

An FA spokesman told Reuters: "We know that there are still
several issues with the pitch which we are working hard to
resolve."

(Editing by Martin Petty; To query or comment on this story
e-mail sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)