By Andrew Warshaw
June 11 – Jordanian Football Association President Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, the forward-thinking new vice-president of FIFA, has taken the unusual step of criticising the standard of refereeing after his country were controversially trounced 6-0 by Japan in a World Cup qualifier.
Jordan were trailing 2-0 in Saitama to the Asian champions when Abdallah Salim was shown a dubious red card in the 27th minute by South Korean refereeing Kim Dong-Jin for an apparent elbow on Japan captain Makoto Hasebe.
Prince Ali, who is playing an increasingly prominent role of trying to bring about positive change within his confederation, stopped short of suggesting that there was any particular motive involved in the sending-off but his country collapsed thereafter.
“I would like to express concerns over the refereeing we have witnessed thus far in the Asian qualifiers,” Prince Ali said in a statement.
“It is certainly a highly important matter worth addressing with my colleagues on the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) Executive Committee.
“We are in need of a thorough assessment of our refereeing system.
“We should always strive to move forward in Asia and deliver what our players and fans deserve – fair play.”
Jordan, with one point from two fourth-round matches, now face an uphill task to qualify for their first ever World Cup but there will be no knee-jerk reaction as far as coach Adnan Hamad was concerned, said Prince Ali (pictured above).
“I would like to congratulate Japan for their well deserved win today,” he said.
“We are in a tough group and in a difficult match schedule but we accept the challenge.”
Jordan next host Australia in September needing to finish in the top two in the group, which also contains Iraq and Oman, to reach the finals in Brazil in 2014.
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