Appeals and Fights - WCQ a day later

After falling at home to Trinidad and Tobago, the Bahrain Football Association is thinking about appealing to FIFA about a late disallowed goal. The "goal" came deep in second half stoppage time when Hussain Ali kicked a ball out of T&T's goaltender's hands and into net. Since a player cannot kick a ball out of the goalie's hands, this was ruled a foul. However, Bahrain’s coach Luka Peruzovic says the keeper lost control of the ball, thus it was a legal play.

As you might know, Bahrain got a favorable ruling from FIFA during their Asian playoff series, which nullified a 1-0 win by Uzbekistan due to a bad call by the ref. I think this was one of the dumbest FIFA decisions in a while, but it was made. Might they rule in favor of Bahrain again?

Personally, I think the keeper had control so one of the rules under Law 12 in the FIFA handbook (PDF link) should come into play (look at pages 28-29) and the goal should not be allowed. But who knows, maybe FIFA wants to keep the qualifiers going a few days longer.

But all that action in the state of Bahrain pales in comparison to the insanity that followed the Turkey-Switzerland match. As objects such as coins and lighters rained down from the crowd in Istanbul, players clashed in the tunnel leading back to the locker room. In the end, Swiss defender Stephane Grichting was taken to a hospital after allegedly being kicked in the groin.

Turkish players and fans say the anger was a result of Swiss substitute player Benjamin Huggel kicking the back of the legs of a Turkish assistant coach right after the final whistle. Huggel was next seen in the tunnel putting a headlock on Turkish defender Ozalan Alpay. The Swiss say that Huggel was responding to the actions of Alpay who he says aimed a kick at Swiss forward and the man who scored their late second goal Marco Streller.

The Swiss intend to lodge a complaint with FIFA. FIFA could go as far as banning Turkey from competing in the 2010 finals.