Uzbek v Bahrain to be replayed (footballasia.com) Updated: 2005-09-06 14:54
Last Saturday's AFC Play-off between Uzbekistan and
Bahrain has been declared invalid by FIFA, the world's governing body, due to a
technical error by the referee.
Confusion reigns in Taskent as Toshimitsu
Yoshida explains his decision to a baffled Bahrain
[WSG]
| An emergency meeting of the Bureau of of the 2006 FIFA World
Cup Organising Commitee on Monday evening ruled that Japanese referee Toshimitsu
Yoshida erred in ruling out a successful Uzbekistan penalty in the 39th minute
and awarding Bahrain an indirect free-kick instead for encroachment by an Uzbek
player as the kick was taken.
The commitee ruled that this was a
'technical error' since the Laws of the Game state that, in such circumstances,
the kick must be retaken.
The decision was made by the the Bureau and was communicated to both teams in
the early hours of Tuesday morning following a formal protest by the Uzbekistan
Football Federation.
After the game, which ended 1-0 to Uzbekistan, the
Uzbekistan Football Federation (UFF) lodged a formal complaint to FIFA,
requesting the game be cancelled and awarded to Uzbekistan 3-0. This was rejcted
by the committee.
"The bureau, taking into consideration that the referee
in the match in question had indeed committed a technical error, established
that, as a consequence, the match needed to be replayed," read a statement from
FIFA.
"The protest put forward by the Uzbekistan team for the match...to
be considered a forfeit with a 3-0 result is rejected."
The decision was
taken by Lennart Johannson, Chairman of the 2006 World Cup Organising Committee,
Julio Grondona, Deputy Chairman of the 2006 World Cup Organising Committee, Dr
Mong Joon Chung, FIFA Vice-President and AFC Executive Member, and Urs Linsi,
FIFA General Secretary.
The first leg of the the game will now be played
on October 8 in Tashkent. The second leg of the game, scheduled for Wednesday
night in Manama, has also been cancelled and will be instead be played on
October 12.
The winners of the match will advance to a play-off in
November with the fourth-placed team in the CONCACAF qualifying competition. The
winner of this two-leg encounter will qualify for next year's World Cup.
Neither Bahrain, who finished in third place in Group B of the Asian
Qualifiers, and Uzbekistan, who finished third in Group A, have ever played at
the FIFA World Cup Finals.
Saudi Arabia, Iran, Japan and Korea Republic
have already booked their spots at Germany 2006 as the the Asian qualifiers.
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