Beijing Guoan coach Lee Jang-soo has criticised the state of the playing surface at EnergyAustralia Stadium where they will meet the Newcastle Jets tonight.

Recent wet weather in Newcastle along with the ground doubling as a rugby arena has caused the surface to deteriorate and Lee said he had asked for the match to be moved to an alternate venue.

"We believe the condition is not suitable for playing such an important game," Lee said through an interpreter.

"We relayed our opinion to the match commissioner and are awaiting a reply.

"The A-League may be in recess, but other Asian countries are playing league games. When we go back to China it will take 21 hours of travel and we then play another game straight away [on Saturday].

"We are afraid of injuries and we also do not want any unexpected results from playing on bad fields.

"The Asian Football Confederation has invested a lot of money and energy in stimulating football in Asia," Lee added.

"Playing on such a bad field cannot be in accordance with their aims. It wants the ACL to reach the same heights as the European Champions League. European teams would not play their games on this type of field."