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Football Federation Australia is refusing to be drawn on claims from bitter Al-Hilal following Western Sydney Wanderers’ historic Asian Champions League triumph, including an unsupported hint at match-fixing.
Furious Al-Hilal directors demanded the Asian Football Confederation launch an investigation after believing the Saudi Arabian club were denied six fair penalties across the two-leg final which was won 1-0 on aggregate by the Wanderers.
Al-Hilal’s board of sore losers said the Wanderers’ stunning success was “a black spot in the history of Asian football” which raised the need to “ensure the absence of any effect of betting offices” in soccer.
The Wanderers scratched their way to a 0-0 draw in Riyadh on Sunday morning, and were crowned champions of Asia courtesy of their 1-0 win in Sydney a week earlier – a result that Al-Hilal said “looted the rights of an entire nation”.
In a strongly-worded statement released on Monday night, Al-Hilal’s board urged AFC president Sheikh Salman Al Khalifa to “stop the blunders” and said doubts had been raised about the confederation’s integrity and fairness.
The FFA on Tuesday had no interest in buying into Al-Hilal’s sweeping rant, while the Wanderers also refused to dignify it with any public response.
Adopting the winners are grinners and losers can please themselves attitude, the Wanderers declined to comment but were privately miffed, especially after their dramatic upset win led to ugly scenes immediately after the match.
Al-Hilal striker Nasser Al-Shamrani appeared to headbutt and later spit on Wanderers defender Matthew Spiranovic.
And clearly the anger has not yet subsided, with the club insisting they were denied two legitimate penalties in the first leg at Parramatta and four more in Riyadh.
Al-Hilal officials demanded to know who was responsible for appointing the referees for the finals – Iranian Alireza Faghani in Sydney and Japan’s Yuichi Nishimura in Riyadh.
Wanderers players, who returned to a heroes’ welcome at Sydney Airport late on Monday night, admitted they had enjoyed the rub of the green in the second-leg stalemate – particularly surrounding penalty claims involving Ante Covic and Anthony Golec either side of halftime and a claim in which Brendan Santalab appeared to handle the ball in the box.
All three decisions were criticised by TV commentators, but waved away by Nishimura.
“Al-Hilal’s management stressed that President Sheikh Salman Al Khalifa should bear the responsibility and stop the blunders that were witnessed in the two matches,” the statement read.
“(Decisions) that appeared suspiciously and tarnished the reputation of the AFC, which raised many questions about the AFC Championships and the integrity and fairness of its competitions, and the need to ensure the absence of any effect of betting offices scattered among football by assigning the competent authority in the Asian Confederation to start investigating seriously.”
Nishimura’s controversial World Cup performance earlier this year, in which he awarded a widely-criticised penalty to host nation Brazil in their opening match, was also referenced by Al-Hilal.
“It is surprising to appoint a referee for the second leg who was deported from refereeing in the last World Cup as a result of his mistakes during the tournament as well the end of his refereeing career at the end of this game,” the statement continued.
“… What happened in the second leg of the AFC Champions League final is a black spot in the history of Asian football, and looting of the right of an entire people who has been waiting for happiness and enjoyment of fair competition.”
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