Saudi Arabia will host the Asian play-off competitions, where the “Green” team will meet the Iraqi team next Tuesday at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium, within the second round.

The Saudi team enters the match with the ambition of clinching the qualification ticket after it won in the first round over Indonesia (3-2), while Iraq faces the Indonesian team three days before the match with Saudi Arabia.

Saudi journalist Battal Al-Qaws raised the issue on his program “In the Goal,” to which journalist Adel Al-Batti responded clearly: “If Younis Mahmoud wants to enter Saudi Arabia, the doors are open, and he can obtain the visa electronically within one minute. What is being raised is related to an internal conflict between Adnan Darjal and Younis Mahmoud over the presidency of the Iraqi Federation, and the Kingdom has nothing to do with it.”

For his part, Riyad Hadi, a member of the media office of the Iraqi Football Association, denied the validity of what was circulated, stressing that Younis Mahmoud did not intend to accompany the team in the first place, after he apologized for attending the matches against Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.

The case brought to mind the existing tension between Younis Mahmoud and the Saudi sports street since “Gulf 26,” when the player made a sarcastic statement about Saudi Arabia’s chances in the tournament, which sparked widespread dissatisfaction and many demanded his apology at the time.
But Mahmoud refused to apologize, saying: “I did not mean to offend, it was just a joke.”

The differences between the two parties are not new, as their roots go back to the 2007 Asian Cup finals, when Iraq won the title, and Younis won the Best Player award, at a time when Yasser Al-Qahtani publicly doubted his eligibility, saying sarcastically: “I can shine the award and send it to him as a gift.”

Despite the escalation of tension, Gulf analysts called for the sportsmanship to prevail and the preservation of fraternal relations between peoples, stressing that such statements must be taken in their sporting context, away from exaggerations that may open the door to unjustified disputes.

Source: “Saudi media”