MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australia forward Robbie Kruse has joined China coach Alain Perrin in criticising the playing surface at Brisbane's Lang Park ahead of the Socceroos' final Asian Cup group match against South Korea at the venue.
Lang Park, which hosts rugby union and league matches, was described as "very, very, very, very bad," by Perrin after his team's opening win over Saudi Arabia there and Kruse was similarly scathing.
"I've seen the pitch, it's a disgrace and not up to the standard it should be," Kruse told local media. "Brisbane has never had a good surface for as long as I can remember and I don't understand why.
"Obviously rugby league plays hard on that surface, they have test matches and a lot of concerts as well but it's not good. It makes it difficult to play football.
"It's the same for both teams, we'll both be wanting to play football on it which will be difficult but it's no excuse in the end."
Australia and South Korea have already booked their tickets to the quarter-finals but will battle for top spot in the group to play the lower-ranked of Group B's two qualifiers.
China are assured of one of the top two berths to advance to the last eight from that group, with Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan to battle for the second in Melbourne on Sunday.
Australia have electrified the tournament by scoring eight goals from their opening two wins against Kuwait and Oman, but Kruse felt his team had yet to win over sceptics.
"Before the (Oman) game, people were saying that it was the real test," he said. "Now they'll be saying we were expected to win, and that will go onto the next game.
"Some people just don't want to admit that we're playing some really good, quality football.
"I think we're going to prove a lot of people wrong in this tournament. We're just proving people wrong, we're going to keep pushing in the right direction and I'm sure we'll do really well."
The only fly in the Socceroos' ointment has been an injury to captain Mile Jedinak, who missed the Oman match after hurting his ankle against Kuwait. He remains a doubt for South Korea.
Tim Cahill wore the captain's armband against Oman and the seasoned Mark Milligan slotted into Jedinak's holding midfield position with aplomb, scoring a goal from a spot kick.
