Football in the MENA this week was a mix of heartbreak and triumph. In Lebanon, rising star Celine Haidar’s dreams were shattered as she fell into a coma following an Israeli strike.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia suffered a historic defeat to Indonesia in the AFC World Cup qualifiers, exposing cracks in their football strategy, as the UAE delivered a stunning 5-0 victory over Qatar, keeping their World Cup hopes alive with a masterclass from Fabio Lima.
Israel strike leaves 19-year-old Lebanese woman footballer in coma
Lebanese footballer Celine Haidar was about to make her dream of playing for the national women’s team come true but debris from an Israeli strike left the 19-year-old in a medically-induced coma.
Celine’s family were among more than a million people who fled south Beirut and other areas targeted by Israeli attacks as bombs rained down.
Celine had to head back to their home in the Beirut Dahiyeh suburb for her studies and training, her father Abbas Haidar told local media, adding that she would leave the house when Israel issued threats and evacuation calls, or when the bombing was intense.
But she would return home at night to sleep, her father said.
On Saturday, he called her to warn of new evacuation orders published by the Israeli military online and she left the house. But soon after, her parents received a call to say she was in hospital.
Celine was seriously wounded in the head by an Israeli strike on her home in the neighbourhood of Shiyah, as the air force pummelled Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Her skull was fractured and she suffered a brain haemorrhage, according to local media reports.
“The doctors are following her very closely,” her father said, adding that her injuries were “very serious”.
Footage of her lying unconscious on the ground, her face covered in blood, while a young man beside her cried took Lebanese social media by storm.
Celine was the latest athlete to become a casualty of Israeli strikes, which already forced the Lebanese Football Association to postpone all domestic football competitions indefinitely.
She was described as a “pillar” of her club, Beirut Football Academy (BFA), which won the Lebanese Women’s Football League last season without dropping a single point, and was due to don the captain’s armband this season, her team manager Ziad Saade said.
The midfielder was also part of the national women’s Under-18 team that won the 2022 West Asian Football Federation championship.
Saudi Arabia suffers historic loss to Indonesia in AFC World Cup qualifier
Saudi Arabia suffered a historic loss to Indonesia in the AFC qualifiers on Tuesday, the first time the kingdom has lost to the Southeast Asian state in their history.
The Green Falcons shocked the world by beating Argentina in their opening game in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, with many viewing it as the start of a new era in Saudi football.
A string of losses since Qatar 2022 show that Saudi Arabia is still some way from being an Asian football powerhouse, with Roberto Mancini recently fired and Frenchman Herve Renard returning to the position as coach of the Green Falcons.
Their 2-0 drumming in Jakarta means the kingdom could slip further down the FIFA rankings from its current position of 59th – 10 places below what they were placed in the last World Cup – while their inability to find the net in their past four games should be equally of a concern for the Saudis.
This comes despite the billions of dollars poured into the sport in recent years, with an influx of big foreign names — such as Cristiano Ronaldo — swelling the ranks of the Saudi Pro League’s Big Four is likely detrimental to the development of the national team, says Mohammed Kandil, sports journalist at WinWin.
“The Saudi Pro League has destroyed the level of the Saudi national team, which is struggling in the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, and a main reason for this decline has been the reduced participation of Saudi players for their clubs in other competitions,” Kandil told The New Arab.
“This is to be expected after Saudi clubs – like Al-Hilal, Al-Nassr, Al-Ittihad, and Al-Ahli – decided to rely heavily on international stars, a move that has left Saudi players increasingly relegated to the benches.”
UAE thrashes Qatar 5-0 in stunning AFC World Cup qualifier performance
The United Arab Emirates’ 5-0 thrashing of Qatar on Tuesday marked Fabio Lima’s finest performance in the third phase of Asia’s World Cup qualifiers, according to comments by the four-goal striker.
Brazil-born Lima opened the scoring in the fourth minute in Abu Dhabi, before netting a pair of penalties and a brilliant free kick from distance to consolidate the UAE’s hold on third place in Group A.
Iran and Uzbekistan secured wins over Kyrgyzstan and North Korea to maintain their grip on the automatic berths for the 2026 finals but the UAE kept pace with their stunning victory over the continental champions.
“We played very well, an amazing match,” said Lima. “Our team played our best match in this competition today and we should continue at this level.
“If we continue at this level we have a lot of chances to go to the next round.”
The UAE have only qualified for the World Cup once before, making their debut in Italy 1990, but with Asia granted a minimum of eight places in the expanded finals in North America they have a better chance of returning to the tournament.
Paulo Bento’s team moved onto 10 points with the win over Qatar to stay three behind second-placed Uzbekistan and a further three adrift of leaders Iran.
While the top two finishers advance directly to the World Cup, nations finishing in third and fourth in the six-team group will progress to a further round of qualifying.
“The whole team focused from the first minute to the last minute,” said Lima. “I hope we can continue like that.
“We have another difficult match in a few months against Iran but we will celebrate and focus on Iran after.”
