'Spying' claims rock Socceroos-Honduras clash

Honduras have accused Australia of spying on their training sessions with a drone, as tensions heat up ahead of Wednesday's decisive World Cup playoff match.

The Honduran National Football Federation (FENAFUTH) posed 18 seconds of footage of a drone flying above Sydney's Olympic Stadium, where the team trained on Monday after their long flight from central America.

"Australia spied on Honduras's official training session from a drone, causing discomfort among the Honduran team and delegation," FENAFUTH said on its Twitter feed.

Upon investigation, the device was found to belong to a father and his children playing in the nearby Cathy Freeman Park.

Honduras face the Socceroos at the same stadium on Wednesday night for the deciding second leg of their intercontinental playoff with the scores level at 0-0 after a tightly fought first leg in San Pedro Sula on Saturday.

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"Let's not be innocent, it's espionage in football," Honduras boss Jorge Luis Pinto said.

"Just like VAR (video assistant referee) has made it into football, drones have made their way into espionage."

According to Honduran newspaper La Prensa, Honduras team management sent up drones of their own in 2016 to ensure no unauthorised party was monitoring their training sessions.

Pinto was also involved in a row with the media at the start of the session when he tried to close training before the 15 minutes of open access allowed under FIFA rules.

"They should show us some respect, we respected them in Honduras so they should show us respect here," he shouted in Spanish at photographers and cameramen.

Colombian Pinto also suggested on his arrival in Sydney that someone in the Honduran media had leaked tactical details to Australia, broadcaster Televicentro reported.