Saudi Arabia coach Mancini commented on victory over Pakistan, not Indonesia-Australia match
- Published on September 16, 2024 at 09:37
- 3 min read
- By AFP Indonesia
Copyright © AFP 2017-2025. Any commercial use of this content requires a subscription. Click here to find out more.
"Mancini laughs when he found out Australia also drew. Saudi Arabia coach's reaction shocks the public," read the Indonesian-language title of a YouTube video posted on September 11, 2024.
The video -- viewed more than 23,000 times -- shows the head coach of the Saudi Arabia national football team Roberto Mancini speaking at a press conference interspersed with various match clips.
It begins with Mancini saying in English: "Very, very hard... very concentrated, and this is good for us."
The clip's Indonesian-language narration says he was commenting on Australia's draw with Indonesia in a World Cup qualifier on September 10.
The narration and superimposed text on the video claims he said, "If there was a team who thought they were skilled, ask Australia. See what it feels like to get frustrated by a team that was underestimated."
The narrator then adds: "Mancini laughed at the score. It's not without good reason, as Mancini was criticised by the Saudi Arabian public after his team failed to beat the Indonesian national team."
The video surfaced after Indonesia held Australia to a 0-0 draw in their World Cup qualifying group match in Jakarta on September 10 (archived link).
It was Indonesia's second draw in as many games against higher-ranked opponents. The Southeast Asian nation held Saudi Arabia -- ranked 77 places above them in the FIFA rankings -- to a 1-1 draw on September 5 (archived link).
Similar false videos were also shared elsewhere on YouTube, TikTok and SnackVideo.
The video, however, shows Mancini at a press conference three months before Indonesia played Australia.
Pakistan post-match press conference
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video found similar footage posted on YouTube by Pakistani sports outlet Sports Side on June 7 (archived link).
The video was titled, "Roberto Mancini's Post-Match Press Conference | Pakistan vs Saudi Arabia".
Saudi Arabia won the match 3-0 in Islamabad to book their place in the next round of the World Cup qualifiers (archived link).
The clip used in the falsely shared video corresponds to footage beginning at the 1:11 mark of the Sports Side video.
In the footage, Mancini responded to a question about his side's performance, saying he was happy they qualified and played well.
At no point did he mention Australia or Indonesia.
Below is a screenshot comparison between the clip in the false post (left) and the Sports Side video (right):
On the day Indonesia drew with Australia, Saudi Arabia beat China 2-1.
A report on the Asian Football Confederation website about the match said Mancini praised his players for coming back to win the game after conceding a goal and going a man down (archived link).
A photo in the article of Mancini at the post-match press conference also shows he was sitting in front of a different background to the one seen in the falsely shared video.
As of September 16, there have been no official reports of Mancini speaking about the Australia-Indonesia match.
AFP has previously debunked false claims surrounding the Indonesian football team here, here and here.
Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.
Contact us
