Asian Cup organisers move to fix Brisbane pitch

[diz]

Asian Cup organisers on Sunday moved to patch up Brisbane's bobbly pitch after a welter of complaints and as Australia prepare to play a quarter-final there.

Australia's coach Ange Postecoglou said he was "not happy" with the surface after Saturday's 1-0 loss to South Korea, which meant Australia will return to Brisbane Stadium for their last-eight clash with China.

Tournament organisers said turf will be re-laid in both six-yard boxes, and they also took the unusual step of moving pre-match training sessions for Iran and UAE, who play in Brisbane on Monday, away from the venue.

"The official training sessions for UAE and Iran scheduled for Brisbane Stadium later today have been moved to preserve the pitch for the remaining matches," Australian organisers said in a statement.

"Stadium management have advised today that the turf will be re-laid in the six-yard boxes at the north and south of the pitch," they added.

Following Australia's loss to South Korea, Postecoglou said: "I'm not happy with the pitch. That is going to be a bit of a challenge for us (in the quarter-finals) on Thursday."

Australia striker earlier labelled the surface as a "disgrace", while China coach Alain Perrin has been complaining about it since the start of the tournament.

"It doesn't deserve (to be in) the competition," said the Frenchman, calling it "very, very, very, very bad".

After Monday's game, stadium staff have two clear days to get the pitch in shape for Australia's quarter-final with China, which will be Brisbane's last match of the Asian Cup.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/asian-c...9790--sow.html

[ehsan singapore]

cant believe australia now is a sore loser complaining about the pitch

[Martin-Reza]

But the pitch really wad horrible and we will have to play on that on Monday.

[Kurdii]

Should of had a venue in Adelaide instead...

[GoIran]

This venue sucks. Terrible pitch and heat. We will play there tomorrow.

[littlepersia17]

Asian Cup organisers move to fix Brisbane pitch

Pisses me off that the fifth biggest city in Australia, Adelaide with 1.3 million people and a strong footballing community doesn't get to host a single match but Canberra with their might 500k population even gets to host a knockout match.

[Rooyintan]

Out of all the 5 venues, only Stadium Australia and Rectangular Stadium are world class. The rest are even way below Asian standards.

If Iran was not politically isolated, I'm sure Iran would have hosted several Asia Cup by now since the Revolution.
Azadi, Naghsh-e Jahan, Fooladshahr, Yadegar-e-Emam Stadium, Ghadir, Shahid Bahonar, Samen (these 7 are top noch)

Others ok too such as Takhti Tehran, Enghelab Karaj, Hafeziyeh Shiraz.

FFA must have paid so much to AFC Inspectors to have them vote for Australia. Not that I'm complaining but Iran would have been a better host at least with regards to Stadiums and Fans. Top Stadiums(Asian Standard) and best fans

[Rooyintan]

Pisses me off that the fifth biggest city in Australia, Adelaide with 1.3 million people and a strong footballing community doesn't get to host a single match but Canberra with their might 500k population even gets to host a knockout match.

I agree with you. The same goes for Perth. Newcastle gets to host but as for WA Asia Cup is invisible

I guess they excluded Perth to make travel easier for teams. Maybe same reason for Adelaide.

Anyways they could have negotiated better and instead of Canberra and Newcastle, had a second Sydney and Melbourne venue.

[Rooyintan]

This venue sucks. Terrible pitch and heat. We will play there tomorrow.

How about those pesty Moth At least in Melbourne there were only Sea Gulls

[Leopard]

Aussies should stop complaining about the pitch and should concentrate on how to learn playing football in a civilized world without using elbow.

They hit the korean so badly that the guy was coughing blood.
In addition they had several years to fix the venue. They need a course on TQM. The problematic venue is one item that fell through the crack.

[persianfire]

Blaming the pitch is a poor excuse when Japan played nice passing football against Iraq on the same pitch.

[Bi-honar]

How the hell is the grass going to set in less than 24 hours?! I'm not an expert, but I've laid sod before and it take a good week before it catches the soil below. Is there going to be 2'x4' sections of turf just lifting up in our game?!

[GolfePersique]

apparently they're only replacing the 6 yard box.
Aussie coach made a big fuss cause their next fixture is in Brisbane. I guess if it was Iran complaining AFC organizers wouldn't give a shit.

[FF187]

Asian Cup organisers move to fix Brisbane pitch

Out of all the 5 venues, only Stadium Australia and Rectangular Stadium are world class. The rest are even way below Asian standards.

If Iran was not politically isolated, I'm sure Iran would have hosted several Asia Cup by now since the Revolution.
Azadi, Naghsh-e Jahan, Fooladshahr, Yadegar-e-Emam Stadium, Ghadir, Shahid Bahonar, Samen (these 7 are top noch)

Others ok too such as Takhti Tehran, Enghelab Karaj, Hafeziyeh Shiraz.

FFA must have paid so much to AFC Inspectors to have them vote for Australia. Not that I'm complaining but Iran would have been a better host at least with regards to Stadiums and Fans. Top Stadiums(Asian Standard) and best fans

What have you smoked dude...either you are very very sarcastic or high but saying Iran would be a better host than Australia is totally BS