April 26, 2002	Friday	Safar 12, 1423

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KARACHI, April 25: Bangladesh and Sri Lankan officials complained Thursday that the ground used for the under-20 Asian qualifiers was bumpy and not suitable to produce quality football.

“The surface is not for good football. One can play rugby but not football on it,” Bangladesh coach, George Kottan, told reporters at a post-match press conference.

The South African-born Austrian said although his team won, the players could not control the ball because of the uneven surface.

“My players are technically sound but I must say they were bothered by the condition of the surface. I am happy my side beat a strong team but missed five open chances,” Kottan said.

He admitted one of his players received a yellow card. It was fierce tackles by the Sri Lankan defenders due to which the player was shown the card.

“There is a lot of different between body dodges and tackles and kicking opponent’s legs which the Sri Lankans did during the whole match,” he said.

The Austrian avoided to comment on Monday’s match against hosts Pakistan. “I cant say anything since I have never seen Pakistan team on the field,” he said.

Sampath Perera, the Sri Lanka coach, joined the chorus of criticism saying “the pitch is the major reason of our defeat.

“We lost but still our performance was good. However, the ground and hot weather were the major reasons of our defeat. Besides the drain near the sidelines also posed danger.

“I felt sorry for the Bangladesh player who was injured when he fell on the drain which should be at least three metres from the throw-line,” he said.

The Sri Lanka manager, Clement de Silva, said he did not lodge an official complaint about the pitch as a gesture of goodwill since all the participants were from the same region — south Asia.

“The weather here is also quite different to what we had back home. It was cold in Kandy when we played Pakistan seniors in a friendly last month, while here it is too hot,” he added.

Pakistan coach when asked if he was satisfied with the standard of the pitch, he said: “We knew about the state of the ground before the match.”