BEIJING, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese famed retired footballer Hao Haidong has called into question the report about the Chinese side's decision not to televise their warm-up games.

It was reported on Tuesday that the Chinese side, which is training in Shanghai ahead of their next World Cup qualifiers, will not televise their warm-up games with local club teams in order to lessen pressure on the national team players.

"If the national team feels pressure to play the club teams, how can they cope with it when facing other national teams?" said Hao, arguably the best scorer that Chinese football ever produced.

The warm-up games will be played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 restrictions.

"Without spectators and live televising, they are not football games. Li Tie played in the World Cup, and I don't think this is his decision," Hao said.

Hao was an ace scorer of the Chinese side that qualified for the 2002 World Cup finals. At the time, Li Tie, head coach of the current Chinese side, was his teammate.