Heavy rain tears hole in roof of Confederations Cup final stadium

Groundstaff remove excess water from the pitch after a torrent of rain tore a hole in the high-tech fabric roof of the stadium hosting the Confederations Cup final between Brazil and Argentina.

Storm rains tore a hole in the high-tech fabric roof of the stadium hosting the Confederations Cup final between Brazil and Argentina, soaking dozens of photographers.

The roof was hoisted into place from its central position above the pitch shortly before the start of the match at the new Waldstadion, built for matches at next year's World Cup finals.

Heavy rain began falling almost immediately after kickoff and the weight of the water tore a hole in one corner of the roof after around 30 minutes of play, sending water gushing on to the photographers below and rendering one corner of the pitch practically unplayable.

Horst Schmidt, the vice-president of the 2006 World Cup organising committee, said the roof at the 188-million-euro-stadium had not been properly tested.

"There is a specific place on the roof where the water is supposed to flow off. But possibly because of dust or dirt, we don't know, it was not able to run off and the puddle of water became too heavy," Schmidt told a press conference late Wednesday.

"Today we had extraordinary weather conditions, but this stadium was only completed just before the finals and we did not have time to test the roof."

The Confederations Cup is considered a warm-up event for the 2006 World Cup.