GENEVA (AP) - FIFA launched an investigation Thursday into the “unusual outcome” of Bahrain’s 10-0 victory over a weakened Indonesia team in a World Cup qualifying match.
Bahrain’s win on Wednesday has raised suspicion because it needed to make up a nine-goal deficit on Qatar in the group standings to have a chance of advancing to the next round.
Bahrain also needed Qatar to lose its last match, but the Qataris scored an 83rd-minute equalizer in a 2-2 draw at Iran to reach the next stage of the Asian qualifying tournament.
FIFA said in a statement that “security will conduct a routine examination of this game and its result.” The soccer governing body said it was justified “given the unusual outcome against results expectation and head-to-head history, and in the interests of maintaining unequivocal confidence in our game.”
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