‘Bad ethics’

Bangla Press Desk: Hong Kong, China head coach Ashley Westwood fired a warning shot ahead of his team’s AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers clash against Bangladesh, slamming the condition of the National Stadium pitch and accusing the hosts of “bad ethics” in their match preparations.

The visitors arrived in Dhaka late Monday night and held their first training session on Tuesday at the Uttara Police Ground.

Following AFC regulations, they trained at the match venue for the first time on Tuesday evening at 5:00 pm, ahead of their high-stakes encounter with Bangladesh. After the session, Westwood faced the media for the official pre-match press conference — and did not hold back.

“I think the pitch could have been better. Of course, Bangladesh as a federation has been using it every single day, which is not good — it’s bad ethics, really. You’re supposed to leave the pitch unused for at least two or three days before an AFC Cup qualifying game, which the Bangladesh Federation chose not to do… they’ve probably made the pitch a little bit worse. But at the end of the day, two teams have to play on it,” Westwood said.

The English coach also pointed out that Bangladesh would have the advantage of being more accustomed to the surface, having trained at the stadium for nine consecutive days.

“Bangladesh are a good side. They’ll be more used to the pitch than us because they’ve set up camp here for the last nine days. So we’ll play our normal game, focus on ourselves, and not worry too much about the pitch,” he added.

BP/SP