Mohammed Khalfan removed from UAE national team

World
Europe

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Football Association announced on Saturday that midfielder Mohammed Khalfan Al-Harazi has been removed from the country’s squad for the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta for instigating a fight during a friendly game with Malaysia's U23 team.

“We are upset with the entire incident. It does not represent our football and we have dropped Khalfan from the squad. He will play no part in the Asian Games. We axed him based on the team’s report over the brawl,” said UAE FA in the statement.

The incident happened on Friday during added time when Malaysia was leading 2-0. Khalfan elbowed defender Adib Zainuddin and things turned violent quickly as members of the coaching team and working staff joined the fight. It didn't change anything in the game and, in the end, Malaysia won two-nil.

Meanwhile, the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) released a statement saying that they received a formal apology from their UAE counterpart and would submit a report to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

“FAM received a formal letter from the UAE FA stating that they apologize for the incident and take the incident seriously. They also said that they will be conducting an internal investigation for actions to be taken against players and team officials involved,” said Stuart Ramalingam, secretary-general of FAM.

The UAE are in Group C with China, Syria and Timor-Leste and will play their first game on August 14.

(Top picture: Screenshot from Star TV)