I don't think FIFA/AFC will cancel all the results of KSA. We have another NT under this treat: Kuwait. Maybe they will hit two targets with one shot this week...
Simply put, KSA does not want to play in Palestine due to security reasons since Israel is not in KSA's radar for any point of contact while Israel seeks opportunity to disguise attacks on Palestine to empty the land for Israel's further expansion which is condemned by almost all the countries of the world except for 3 major super powers bearing Veto right in UN while KSA & Iran are the major countries that voice against it. Don't know about Iran but KSA never accepted Israel and doesn't have any sort of diplomatic or normal ties whatsoever with Israel hence, entering Palestine while passing Israeli check point was out of the equation while also Israel can attack Palestinian territories any time at will with no voice against it being raised in UN and no action to halt such activities by any country in the world gives KSA another point of security threat so, KSA rightly exercised the right to not play the match under such circumstances. If Isreal would have had accepted Late King Abdullah's proposal of going back to the borders of 1948 or was it 1967 (I don't recall the exact year) then KSA would have had accepted Israel provided that It had also implemented the proposal but Israel rejected it (since Israel wants to expand, not contract) so there was no diplomatic ties between the two countries. The other country which also does not have ties with Israel is Pakistan and few other Muslim (non-arabic speaking countries).... But, even though KSA never accepted Israel (and vise-versa), KSA never did any military intervention in Israel since KSA seeks peaceful solution to the problem like all the other countries in the world. Note: Please don't get offended by my above explanation as I presented neutral picture without any bias.
please get YOUR politics off of BigSoccer. Writing something calmly does not make it neutral, does not make it unbiased. please keep the discussion to Football.
This is a clear case of political interference in a footballing matter, and should be reported to FIFA.
Lol I hope you don't actually believe this. Saudi Arabia and Israel are good friends right now. They have very good relations and this is just a propaganda type thing to continue to brainwash Saudi people into thinking that Saudi Arabia and Israel aren't actually butt buddies in real life. I hope Saudi Arabia gets suspended if they move the game to neutral ground because this is clear government interference.
Lol- I was going to say, um.... don't FIFA have some rule about government staying out of national team FAs or something like that.... ugh well FIFArce - lol!
La loi du plus fort.. " Palestine v. Saudi Arabia match, which was originally scheduled for 5 November 2015, will now be played on 9 November, while the Palestine v. Malaysia match will still be played, as planned, on 12 November. FIFA has asked the Palestinian Football Association to provide details on the neutral ground in Asia that will host both matches. " http://m.fifa.com/worldcup/news/y=2...a-and-malaysia-on-neutral-ground-2730144.html
Sorry for going off-topic. But just to highlight how absurd and hypocritical this whole Saudi protest over a footballing match is, and how it's just intended for domestic consumption, take a look at this for a good lol:
They probably made the game against Malaysia neutral so it would look less suspicious. Also I wouldn't blame the citizens but rather the secretive media. They government knows if allegiance to Israel is leaked it could cause the downfall of their regime.
Relevant post from FIFA website "The Emergency Bureau for the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, composed of chairman Shk. Salman Bin Ebrahima Al Khalifa (Bahrain), deputy chairman Juan Ángel Napout (Paraguay) and Michel D’Hooghe (Belgium), has decided that Palestine’s upcoming 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, scheduled to take place in Palestine, both need to be played on neutral ground. The decision followed a meeting held in Palestine yesterday between FIFA’s security officer and local authorities, after which the Palestinian government confirmed that it could no longer guarantee the safety and security around the matches in question."
Jesus Christ, this is getting ridiculous. Seems like Saudis can do whatever they want, if there was any other team doing this, it would have been already banned.
After today draw i.e., KSA 0 - 0 PAL, the Group is Wide Open with Golden Opportunity for UAE to top the group since UAE has 3 home matches (including last match against KSA) and 1 away match against Malaysia in Malaysia... Seeing at things where UAE has better goal difference as compared to PAL and KSA, and are expected to win remaining matches making them equal on points with KSA (assuming that KSA wins against Timor Leste and Malaysia but loses out the last match against UAE in UAE) thus, becoming top in the group on goal difference... KSA seems to be in a bit of a mess to miss out on yet another FIFA WC due to today's draw... but this seems to be early indicator of raising eye brows... What was the Saudi coach playing with only 1 forward ?... Also, Salman Al Faraj was too slow in his passes and movement, Yasin Hamza was also not up to mark, Where was the Saudi Mid-Field today... Saudi Players were playing too, too slow specially in the first half... In Fact, where Saudis playing for a draw today ?...
A good results considering the circumstances. Palestine really could have used one of their big target men (Jadue was suspended, Eid is injured) and that might have turned the result of the game. Nu'man really should have made it 1-0 early on in the second half but seeing how Tayseer Jassim missed two amazing chances later on... I'll take the draw. Today might have been the day our luck started to change. We were unlucky the first time vs. Saudi Arabia and against Timor Leste we could only muster a draw (although we might get those points back). Today I felt we got a nice dose of luck. If we can get two points back vis-a-vis an administrative win that will give us 8 points. Then it becomes rather simple- win vs. Malaysia, UAE, and Timor Leste and that should be enough to qualify us as a runner up with 17 points. Even a draw vs. UAE could do provided they draw in one of their remaining four games. Timor Leste at home (our real home ground) is a nice way to end the qualifications could need that goal differential!
Serious questions starting to get asked about the eligibility of East Timor's Brazilians. Official protest lodged? by Palestine over their game against East Timor.
Shoutout to Palestine for showing that no matter how much money you have, if your team has no heart, you cannot beat a team with heart.
Wow Saudi Arabia draws after all of this how sad. It's crazy how much they have fallen, they are no better than the casual West Asian team nowadays
If Saudi won, I would remind you that even moving the venue cant help you against the top 10 of Asia in the next round. But I could remind you that anytime. No amount of petrodollars is going to get Australia, Japan, SK, Iran, Uzbekistan, China, Jordan, North Korea to move the game is it?
Palestine beat Malaysia 6-0 AGAIN.. This time on neutral territory, but 10k Palestine fans showed up in Amman! 4 points in three days vs saudi and malaysia not bad