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.”
vocans
Guest
+1
Batou
Guest
No need for that last bit champ
George Haida
Roar Rookie
What if Al-Hilal won and WSW were denied a couple more than legitimate penalties? You can't deny that there were genuinely bad calls made, and they're reacting the exact same as any Aussie would if the Wanderers got the short end of the stick
Leonardo
Roar Guru
No chance of any rematch or any other actions for their ridiculous claims. Sore losers. Spoilt Arab oil billionaires who are used to getting whatever they want with dirty money. Just look at Qatar. They spent 200M and still didn't win it. They probably tried to bribe the referees and this is what they got as justice. Grow up or go hump a camel!
MarkfromCroydon
Guest
Really, there's no way that the AFC can do anything to change the result, unless there's some sort of hard evidence that the ref was paid off. If there's just mistakes, it would be inconceivable that the AFC would take any action re the result. I do however feel for Al Hilal as across the 2 legs there were definitely 2 penalties and maybe a third that they should have been awarded that they didn't get. In looking at the vision, it looks like the ref in the second leg (Nishimura) saw both of the 'clear cut' fouls and decided not to award a pen. I reckon he was a bit 'gun shy' after the Brazil-Croatia pen he gave in the world cup and didn't want to be accused of making the same mistake in the final of an important tournament, and hence he didn't blow the whistle. I think Al Hilal do realise that there's nothing they can do about the result and have just made a statement as a pr exercise for their fans.
Batou
Guest
Meanwhile, Al Hilal also called for investigations and possible sanctions over a number of incidents during and after the match including elbowing, spitting and lasers being shone in the eyes of Wanderers keeper Ante Covic. The Al-Hilal board has described the incidents as disgraceful and called for the AFC to act swiftly to ban the perpetrating club from future tournaments... Yeah right! What sore losers.
Titch
Guest
Al Hila's coach has to shoulder the blame for the loss by disrespecting the Wanderers. The Wanderers did after all beat some of the best teams in Asia to reach the final; something the Al Hilal coach didn't acknowledge. The refereeing was a bit unfortunate but these things happen.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
They are the sorest losers. Sure, you can feel aggrieved at not getting some penalties you thought you should have got, but if you really were that much better than the Wanderers, how come you had to rely on penalties as your only way to score in the game, thus putting the game entirely in the hands of the ref? Rather than looking at why they weren't able to score, they just have to point fingers at everyone else. And this is while being one of the worst behaved teams I've ever seen, coupled with happily accepting hundreds of people in the crowd aiming lasers at the opposition keepers face all night. Al Hilal are basically home to some of the worst sportsmanship in the world of football. Even without the happiness of the Wanderers victory, so happy a team like that didn't win. So the AFC should always be reviewing refereeing and looking for ways to improve it, but they should also be suspending players for headbutting and spitting on opposition players, and applying sanctions against Al Hilal for all the laser pointer stuff, basically some sort of suspended penalty that says they need to seriously address it because if it happens again they'll be in serious trouble.
Pete
Guest
Will be interesting to see if the AFC comes down on Al Hllal with any sanctions or fines. Publicly criticising the referee and questioning the whole AFC's integrity .... this can not be ignored. Also agree with the laser beams, definitely should be some fine imposed on the club (and lockouts if continues). Not to mention the spitting incident too ... and the aftermath. Should be some big fines and suspensions from that. Of course no mention of any of this on the AFC home page.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
I tend to agree, Franko. They have a right to feel robbed given the nature of the penalty shouts and have the right to request an investigation into refereeing, however dragging the AFC President's name into the mix and denigrating the entire organisation will do more harm to their cause than good. It feels a little more like a public relations exercise for the domestic Saudi audience than a considered approach to addressing a grievance.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
This is certainly a twist. Once upon a time, we may have thought that it was the Australian clubs subject to dubious refereeing, being the black sheep of the Asian confederation. Now we are the ones privy to refereeing largesse - that is one for the books.
vocans
Guest
If it was the Wanderers or any other Australian team on the end of those decisions we'd expect some kind of statement from the club and certainly from fans. The response would not be complementary. Given of the recent background of the international admin of the game (and sports betting in general) questions should be asked and answered. Lasers are a blight on the game, and their users should be caught and banned. Corruption, match-fixing, cheating, and lasers can ruin the game if not addressed. In many ways it's up to fans to out the laser users.
Paul Nicholls
Roar Guru
Sore losers. Reflects extremely poorly on All Khalil. Boot them out of ACL for 2 years. And while they are at it slap a Suarez style ban on the llama.
Professor Rosseforp
Guest
The penalty against Croatia was widely supported by the Roar crowd during the World Cup. I would have liked to see Croatia win, but the penalty was legitimate.
Ben
Guest
They really need to investigate and identify the person/s who were shining industrial lasers into Covic's eyes throughout the game in Riyadh. They also need to investigate how Al-Hilal failed to score a goal in 180 minutes of open play. Those are the two primary reasons why Al-Hilal lost right there and the club needs to get to the bottom of it!
Franko
Guest
"the ref was aided by the home crowd" So he is open to influence...? Don't forget, Neymar should have been sent and Croatia scored a legit goal that was ruled out. That is on top of the Fred "penalty". It's not to say WSW did anything wrong, they just happened to be on the right side of an influential ref.
sydutd77
Guest
the penalty against croatia was soft but there was contact and the ref was aided by the home crowd. i think since then hes been reserved not to be influenced by the hostile home crowd which didnt do him any favours because he missed 3 comical penalties which favoured us ofcourse. we'll take the win, it is the highest acolade for club football in asia, i just hope we dont play that way in the world club championship it would make the asian confed look hopeless.
Franko
Guest
They raise a valid point and have every right to feel aggrieved. They should not however, have had it raised publicly as it comes across as sour grapes. I think we all recall Yuichi Nishimura's "efforts" in the opening match of the WC where Croatia were clearly robbed.