Ahead of Australia's World Cup qualifier clash with Honduras tomorrow, Honduras boss Jorge Luis Pinto has accused the Aussies of "espionage" and spying on his side.
Australia played out a nil all draw last Friday in Honduras and the second leg will take place tomorrow morning at 9am. After training at Sydney's ANZ Stadium Luis Pinto accused the Australians of spying on their training via a drone, while the Honduras football account also tweeted footage of it.
AUSTRALIA espía entrenamiento oficial de #Honduras desde un dron; lo que ocasionó el malestar del equipo y delegación hondureña. pic.twitter.com/anCAgHtsMP
— FENAFUTH (@FenafuthOrg) November 13, 2017
Members of the media had used a drone to film Australia's training while in Honduras but denied having anything to do with Monday's incident. Stadium officials conducted an investigation and discovered the drone actually belonged to a child in a nearby park.
However, Pinto was not to be fooled by some bogus Australian inquest and doubled down on his accusation yesterday, while also claiming a Honduras journalist has been leaking tactics to the Australian team prior to the game. Speaking to ESPN, Pinto berated the intrusion of spying into football:
The incident is embarrassing for such an advanced country. When Australian went to Honduras they checked every bathroom, every box at the stadiums where they trained and where they had the official training.
The videos show more than anything a drone can show. It just takes some of the merit away from the fair play and sporting event that will be held tomorrow. Let's not be innocent, it's espionage in football.
Just like VAR has made it into football, drones have made their way into espionage.
Pinto went on to claim the incidents have not deterred from their preparations.
Regardless of the incident of the drone, and also journalists in Honduras leaking information about our team, we have been very comfortable here.
Australia have denied any involvement in the matter. It'll make for a hell of second leg, with the winners set to take it all.
