Saudi Arabia pull out of Palestine tie
Saudi Arabia has decided not to play the disputed 2018 World Cup qualifier against Palestine in Ramallah, the Saudi federation said Tuesday.
"The Saudi federation has sent an official letter in which it announced withdrawing from the match against Palestine scheduled for Thursday," spokesman Adnan al-Moaibed said.
The new match date had been set by FIFA on Oct 21.
The teams played each other in Jeddah in June in the first of their two scheduled Asia zone World Cup qualifiers with the Saudis winning 3-2.
That match was originally supposed to be played in Palestine, but Saudi Arabia had refused to travel to the Israeli-occupied West Bank, citing undefined "exceptional circumstances". The return leg was then set for October 13, again in the West Bank, but Saudi Arabia on September 23 demanded that it be played on neutral ground.
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