Kuwait exit stadium after refusing to play UAE in warm-up

Sport360 staff 10:49 04/01/2015
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  • Standing his ground: Kuwait coach Nabil Maaloul felt the ire of Queensland police over his protests.

    In what was meant to be an ideal preparation game for the UAE ahead of their Asian Cup opener, turned out to be a nightmare as opponents Kuwait took matters in their own hands, by refusing to play and then being forced by police to exit the stadium.

    – Half-time report – Europe’s Breakthrough XI 2014/15

    The UAE were scheduled to play the match against Kuwait a at 18:00 local time. Both sides had agreed on December 15, when the match was confirmed, that there would be no video recording in the behind-closed-doors friendly with only ball-boys, teams and match officials present. 

    But with Kuwait insisting the match should be recorded and the UAE not obliging, coach Nabil Maaloul held a training session during the warm-up period.

    With only five minutes remaining before kick-off, Kuwait were still training on the pitch and Maaloul was insisting his team would not play unless the match is recorded.

    With Kuwait resigned to accepting that the match would not be filmed, UAE coach Mahdi Ali, who along with the match officials agreed to play a practice match among his squad, however the Kuwaitis continued to refuse to leave the pitch.

    An AFC match commissioner intervened and asked Maaloul’s side to exit the pitch so that the practice match could go ahead.

    Again Maaloul turned a blind eye to the request, forcing the owner of the stadium, along with his security staff, to intervene.

    While their verbal actions were unsurprisingly ignored again, the owner turned on the pitch sprinklers which eventually forced Kuwait off the field. But the trouble didn’t end there.

    The Kuwaiti side then locked themselves inside their dressing room for 30 minutes. Following repeated calls by the owner and officials, the police were forced to open the dressing room door. 

    While Maaloul and his players may have ignored the requests on the pitch, the head coach was told by police he could be detained for up to 48 hours and finally instructed his team to leave the stadium.

    A statement from the UAE FA read: “Considering the brotherly relations that link the UAEFA to its Kuwaiti counterpart, the UAE delegation were looking forward to overcome the reasons that have led to the cancellation of the friendly between the senior national teams.

    “Both football governing bodies aim at promoting the game of the Gulf and Arab nations and the proposed friendly was destined to benefit the two sides before the kick-off of the championship.

    “The Kuwaiti delegation has unfortunately declined to adhere to the previous agreement under which an official letter was sent to the Kuwaiti FA on December 15, and clearly stipulated that the match should not be telecast, recorded or open for the media and the public. But, the Kuwaitis insisted on filming the game and this was against the purposes of the technical staff of the UAE national team.”

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