Geneva, March 2 (IANS) FIFA have announced an investigation into Bahrain’s staggering 10-0 World Cup win over Indonesia in a World Cup qualifying match in Manama.
The visiting goalkeeper was sent off after just two minutes, and Bahrain’s win Wednesday raised suspicion because it needed to make up a nine-goal difference on Qatar in the group standings so as to reach the next round.
Bahrain also needed Qatar to lose its last match, but Qatar tied with Iran 2-2 to reach the next stage of the Asian qualifying tournament, Xinhua reported.
“Given the unusual outcome in relation to the results-expectation and head-to-head history, and in the interests of maintaining unequivocal confidence in our game, FIFA Security will conduct a routine examination of this game and its result,” said a FIFA statement Thursday.
“The important thing is that if there are suspicions you have to investigate it,” FIFA vice president Prince Ali said. “It might just be a coincidence, however there might be something behind it.”