England coach Phil Neville has questioned the etiquette of the United States ahead of the World Cup semi-final in Lyon on Tuesday.
The Lionesses clash with the defending world champions this week and an interesting sub-plot has already developed after just one day in the city.
Representatives from the United States scoped out England's hotel in the city centre ahead of the clash, which they claimed was just in case they needed to secure a base for next Sunday's World Cup final.
While US head coach Jill Ellis claimed it was an normal approach and was not arrogance on her team's part, Neville disagreed and was certainly bemused by the sequence of events.
“It’s not an unfair advantage. It’ll have no bearing on the game. I actually found it quite funny,” he said in the pre-match press conference.
“I just thought: ‘What are they doing?’ It’s not etiquette really, is it? I just think that’s not something I would allow from our organisation.
“It’s not a concern, the only thing I would say is it’s not something I would want my team ops person doing. I hope they enjoy the hotel, but it’s not something we’d do, sending somebody round to another team’s hotel.
“But it’s their problem. I’m sure Jill wouldn’t have been happy with that arrangement. I wouldn’t have been, if that was my team ops person going around. I’m sure she’ll be dealing with their infrastructure within their own discipline.”
However, when questioned on the subject earlier on Sunday, Scott played down the significance and stated her belief that it was just normal procedure at this stage of the competition.
“I would assume everyone’s doing that. You have to plan ahead. The only two people who think about planning ahead on my team are my administrator and her boss.
“Everybody else, we don’t worry about that. That’s probably who the two people [visiting the hotel] were. I think it’s important to do your job.
“In terms of arrogance, that has nothing to do with us. That’s planning and preparation for our staff. I think that’s pretty normal.”
