Iniesta worried about Kaunas pitch
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Spain midfielder Andres Iniesta on Monday expressed his concern about the state of the pitch his country are due to play on Tuesday night.
Spain are in Lithuania to play the fifth game of their 2012 European Championship qualifying matches.
Their 2-1 win over the Czech Republic in Friday night has put the Spanish in pole position with four straight wins and victory in Lithuania would virtually assure their ticket to the 2012 finals, where they would defend the title they won in 2008.
However, the Spanish are worried about the state of the pitch they will have to play on in the Dariaus ir Gireno Stadium. The pitch is almost totally without grass, hard bumpy and with some holes in its playing surface.
Although the Lithuanians played Poland in a friendly game on the pitch in Saturday night, Tuesday's match referee, Laurent Duhamel will carry out an inspection this Monday to see if it is fit to play a competitive match.
Iniesta commented that the pitch reminded him of his schooldays.
"We' ll be able to take a good look at the pitch when we visit the stadium, but its fair to say that looking at the pictures that we have seen up to now, it reminds me of when I used to play on dirt pitches in junior sides," he said on the RTVE website.
The man who scored the winning goal in last summer' s World Cup final was unwilling to say whether or not the match should go ahead as planned.
"That is not a decision that we are going to take, it is one for UEFA and the referee. It' s obvious that it is not in the best possible condition, but if we have to play then we are prepared to do so," added Iniesta.
If the game does eventually go ahead, Iniesta said that he expected Lithuania to be complicated rivals. The side' s have already played in the competition and although Spain emerged 3-1 victors from the clash which was played in Salamanca, it was a difficult game for the World Champions.
"I am certain that it will be tough for us again, because we all remember the game in Salamanca," said Iniesta.
"It was hard for us to get any continuity in our play. Lithuania are a team that is hard to shake off and they don' t leave you much room to breathe. Like most teams they close things up in defense and it will be even harder when we bear in mind that they are playing at home and in conditions which are far from ideal," he said.
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