Coach lashes AFC over hotel shambles

IRAQ’S Brazilian coach Jorvan Vieira launched a furious tirade Tuesday against the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) after his team was forced to wait six hours to get into their hotel.

Vieira’s squad arrived in Kuala Lumpur from Bangkok late Monday after assurances from the AFC that their rooms at the swanky Prince Hotel would be ready, only to be left stranded in the lobby, he said.

“This competition is one that is considered of a high level where these sorts of mistakes should not happen,” he fumed at a press conference Tuesday.

“This is second only to the World Cup, to Copa America. These kind of logistical mistakes should not happen. This is very bad. This is not a tourist group, this is a football team in the semifinals.”

Vieira said the disruption has affected his team’s preparations for the Asian Cup semifinal against South Korea.

“For us it is more difficult than for South Korea because we left Thailand on Monday at 7 a.m. and we arrived here at 5 p.m. in the afternoon and we waited four hours in the lobby of the hotel to get our rooms,” he said.

“We waited four hours and then they gave us only eight rooms for 31 persons. After that we had to wait another two hours for the rest of the rooms.”

The angry coach blamed the AFC, claiming the team was given assurances over the hotel availability before they left Thailand. (SD-Agencies)