By Andrew Warshaw
March 1 – FIFA have launched a “routine” investigation into Bahrain’s astonishing 10-0 victory over a weakened Indonesia team in a crucial World Cup qualifier on Wednesday.
The thumping win raised immediate suspicions of match fixing, especially since Bahrain needed a nine-goal swing to advance to next stage of the Asian qualifying competition if Qatar lost to Iran on the same night.
In the end, the Qataris scored a dramatic 83rd-minute equaliser to earn a 2-2 draw in Tehran to edge out Bahrain.
But such was the unusual goalscoring patterns in both games that FIFA are taking no chances.
“FIFA security will conduct a routine examination of this game and its result,” football’s world governing body said in a statement.
FIFA, whose head of security Chris Eaton has been largely responsible for weeding out a spate of illegal betting cases with a much-lauded whistle-blowing initiative, said an initial probe was justified “given the unusual outcome against results expectation and head-to-head history, and in the interests of maintaining unequivocal confidence in our game”.
Indonesia goalkeeper Samsidar was sent off after just two minutes with Bahrain taking the lead from the resulting penalty.
The hosts also scored a second penalty in the first half as they took a 4-0 lead by the interval.
In their defence, Indonesia had lost all five previous group matches, conceding 16 goals, and were fielding several inexperienced players having banned those representing the breakaway Indonesian Super League.
But Bahrain, managed by experienced Englishman Peter Taylor, even managed to miss two other penalties in a game refereed by Andre El Haddad of Lebanon, the same official denounced by Singapore after they lost a controversial World Cup qualifier in China in September.
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