January 15 – The Asian Football Confederation the AFC has fined Lebanon coach Miodrag Radulovic for comments about the referees after his team’s 2-0 defeat by Qatar in their opening game last week. The Montenegrin will have to pay $7,500 for his remarks.
The punishment is for violating Article 50.1 of the AFC’s disciplinary and ethics code, which deals with bringing the game into disrepute. “Mr Miodrag Radulovic is informed that a repeat violation of this provision may be met with more severe punishment,” said the AFC.
Lebanon had a goal disallowed in the first half against Qatar before they conceded twice to lose the game. Later, the Montenegrin manager questioned the match official’s impartiality with various media reports quoting Radulovic as saying his team played “against 12 or 13” and accusing the officials of denying Lebanon a legitimate goal.
The Lebanese maintain a slim chance of progressing to the knockout stages after two consecutive defeats. They went down to Saudi Arabia as well in Group A and will face North Korea in their final group game but will likely need to win by a large margin.
Contact the writer of this story, Samindra Kunti, at moc.l1734851636labto1734851636ofdlr1734851636owedi1734851636sni@o1734851636fni1734851636
