Pitch battle

Manchester United are expected to field a strong side for tonight's friendly match with local team Kitchee despite the appalling conditions of the Hong Kong Stadium pitch.迷你倉沙田 The English Premier League champions were yesterday forced to cancel their open training session at the stadium to avoid risking injury to their multimillion-pound players. Workers toiled to fix the pitch so tonight's match before a crowd of 40,000 can kick off as scheduled at 8pm. Torrential rain over the past few days left the pitch looking like a quagmire but, with the weather staying dry yesterday, organizers said there is every chance the pitch can recover from its soaking. Not helping the surface were matches involving three Premier League teams and South China last week played in heavy downpours. "Since a pipe burst at the stadium [on July 4], soil in some areas in the middle part of the pitch had been washed away without any grass left," said Hong Kong Football Association chairman Brian Leung Hung-tak. He said the Leisure and Cultural Services Department had deployed hundreds of people to work on the pitch. Leung said the three English teams - Manchester City, Sunderland and Spurs - that visited to play in the Barclays Asia Trophy were disappointed by the condition of the pitch. Leung said Spurs did not want to play against South China after its staff inspected the pitch. Manchester United manager David Moyes said he was disappointed at the cancellation of the training session but insisted players' safety is paramount. But Moyes said the team will be able to adapt to the conditions. "We're used to playing on better surfaces but the weather has been terrible for a few days. There's nothing the people in Hong Kong can 迷你倉價錢o about that," Moyes said. "I hope it will be okay. The weather's drying out and I hope the pitch will be fine. It will be the same for both teams." He added: "Players can get injured on good pitches as well. It can happen on any pitch. Obviously we'd rather be on a very good surface but the players are used to it." Asked if he was worried, midfielder Jesse Lingard said: "No not really. We have to adapt to that ... try and play our best." John Shiels, chief executive of the Manchester United Foundation, said: "We will play on - whatever the pitch is like - and we will get the job done." Former top footballer Lee Kin-wo said the surface is not suitable for professional matches. Netizens were more scathing, with one doctoring a photo to turn the football pitch into farmland with a cow plowing the soil. The Tourism Commission's Mega Events Fund's assessment committee chairman Jeffrey Lam Kin-fung said he was dissatisfied that Manchester United and Kitchee have to play in such poor conditions, especially as the match will be broadcast around the world. The fund forked out HK$8 million to bring the Red Devils to Hong Kong. The department said that sand used to cover holes caused by the burst water pipe had not been screened and contained debris. Meanwhile, anticipated crowds failed to turn out for 1,000 tickets for tonight's game that had been reserved by Manchester United for sponsors. As it failed to seek sponsors in Hong Kong, the organizer held a sale of the tickets starting at noon with each person allowed to buy a maximum of four tickets. But when the sale began, there were only about 100 fans in the queue. The prices of the tickets ranged from HK$390 to HK$990. eddie.luk@singtaonewscorp.com 迷你倉庫