MANAMA, (Reuters):
BAHRAIN PLAN to appeal to FIFA to have their World Cup play-off defeat by Trinidad & Tobago annulled because a late goal was disallowed by Colombian referee Oscar Julian Ruiz Acosta for dangerous play.
"We have appealled to FIFA about cancelling the goal, and we asked them to reconsider that goal," Sheikh Ali al-Khalifa, the vice president of the Bahrain Football Association, told Reuters yesterday.
"We stated that there was no danger in the attempt to take the ball. We're not so optimistic about FIFA's response, but we did what we think is right in the circumstances."
FIFA director of communications, Markus Siegler, said the world governing body would wait for the official protest, but added it would only be considered if the Bahrainis had made it immediately to the match referee and delegate.
REFEREE'S REPORT
He added: "Like with all the other qualifying matches around the world, if there is a protest it will appear in the referee's report and the match delegate's report and be dealt with by our disciplinary committee."
Bahrain, bidding to reach the World Cup finals for the first time, lost the match 1-0 and Trinidad qualified for the first time, themselves, winning the two-legged play-off 2-1 on aggregate.
Bahrain had previously squeezed through the Asian play-offs against Uzbekistan on a technicality.
Bahrain originally lost the first leg of that play-off 1-0 to Uzbekistan in Tashkent on September 3, but the result was annulled by FIFA because of a refereeing error.
The match was later replayed and ended in a 1-1 draw, a result that was enough for Bahrain to advance to the play-off final against Trinidad.
