World Cup qualifier descends into chaos as ref pushed and 4 red cards | Football | Sport

A World Cup qualifying match between Iraq and Indonesia ended in chaos on Saturday as three players were sent off, while the referee was also pushed in angry scenes. Former Manchester United star Zidane Iqbal scored the only goal of the game as Iraq ran out 1-0 winners.

Iraq hosted Indonesia at the Al Inma Bank Stadium at King Abdullah Sport City in Saudi Arabia as the visitors attempted to keep alive their hopes of playing at next year’s World Cup, which is due to be co-hosted between the USA, Canada and Mexico. But the away side were far from happy with the referee’s performance throughout the encounter as the result left them unable to qualify for the tournament.

Referee Ma Ning appeared to be in control of the affair for the first hour of action as both sides searched for the opening goal.

But Indonesia, who are managed by former Barcelona and Newcastle striker Patrick Kluivert, were angered 23 minutes before full-time after Iraq defender Zaid Tahseen was only shown a yellow card for pulling down Ole Romeny.

The visitors were then left reeling after Indonesia centre-back Kevin Diks was deemed to have fouled Merchas Doski when they felt the free-kick should have been awarded the other way.

And in stoppage time at the end of the match, Diks thought he should have won a penalty for his side after being caught by Tahseen’s arm. But the referee had already penalised Tahseen for a high foot in the lead up to the incident, with Indonesia being forced to settle for a free-kick instead, although the Iraq player did receive a second booking for the initial challenge as he was sent off.

After the final whistle, a host of players surrounded Ning to make their views perfectly clear to the official.

And Indonesia left-back Shayne Pattynama was sent off following a scuffle with Iraq head coach Graham Arnold, despite the fact that the player hadn’t even made it onto the pitch during the match.

As Ming was brandishing the red card to Pattynama, Indonesia team manager Sumardji raced up to him on the pitch and shoved him in the back, which ultimately earned Sumardji a red card

And the dismissals didn’t stop there as Indonesia midfielder Thom Haye was also given his marching orders after confronting Ming.

The result means Indonesia have finished bottom of Group B of the AFC World Cup qualifiers table after two losses from two matches.

Iraq are due to take on Saudi Arabia at the same venue on Tuesday, with the winner of that match guaranteeing their place at next year’s World Cup. Both teams have three points ahead of the clash, with a draw enough for Saudi Arabia to book their place at the tournament courtesy of goals scored.

The team that fails to progress to the World Cup on Tuesday will get another shot at qualifying as they will advance to another round of preliminaries.