- Usman Khawaja’s tweet is sure to divide opinion
- Cricketer criticizes Australian government
- Socceroos face Palestine in World Cup qualifier
Australian cricket star Usman Khawaja has sparked controversy ahead of the Socceroos’ World Cup qualifier against Palestine on Tuesday, declaring “we are playing against a country that our government doesn’t even recognise.”
Khawaja, 37, proudly Islamic and born in Pakistan, asked his followers on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, if the Socceroos were “playing against nobody”.
It was a telling reference to the Australian government’s refusal to officially recognize Palestine as a country due to the horrific scenes unfolding in the war-torn nation outside Gaza.
‘I can’t wait for this. Palestinian flags will fly everywhere at Perth’s HBF Park.
‘And they can’t ban them. Likewise, it confuses me how we are playing with a country that our government doesn’t even recognize. Is this Socceroos vs Nobody?
Australian cricket star Usman Khawaja has sparked controversy ahead of the Socceroos’ World Cup qualifier against Palestine, declaring that “we are playing against a country that our government doesn’t even recognise.”
Khawaja, 37, proudly Islamic and born in Pakistan, asked his followers on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, if the Socceroos were “playing against nobody”.
It was a telling reference to the Australian government refusing to officially recognize Palestine as a country due to the horrific scenes underway in the war-torn nation outside Gaza (pictured, the Palestine football team before a match World Cup qualifier against Lebanon).
“It’s all very confusing,” he said. published on Tuesday.
Khawaja’s post garnered a lot of support online, with one follower declaring it an “ironic situation.”
Another stated: ‘Well said Usman. “I love that the (Palestinian) flags are everywhere.”
A third chimed in: ‘Supporting humanity! Come on Perth, make that stadium red, white and green.
Khawaja previously accused the ICC of double standards in 2023 after he was denied permission to display a peace dove on his bat for solidarity with Gaza.
The ICC Code of Conduct prohibits players from displaying messages on their equipment without approval, especially for political, religious or racial reasons.
However, Khawaja and his supporters argued that other players were allowed to display such messages before, including when West Indies players wore Black Lives Matter logos during a Test series against England in 2020.
On the pitch, Graham Arnold’s men have already progressed to the next qualifying round after winning their first five games and not conceding a goal.
Players such as Alessandro Circati, Gethin Jones, Martin Boyle, Mathew Leckie and Cameron Burgess have a strong chance of starting against Palestine after missing out against Bangladesh in Dhaka on June 6.
The visiting team, which has also already qualified, is in second place and remains on track to participate in the World Cup for the first time.
Midfielder Mohammed Rashid is well aware that the national team’s performances offer much-needed hope to the home side in war-torn Palestine.
Their only defeat was against Australia (a 1-0 loss in November) and midfielder Mohammed Rashid said playing in a World Cup would be the biggest achievement for his team.
“People right now, this is the only thing they’re seeing, this is the only thing that gives them hope: seeing their national team advance and move on to the next rounds that we’ve never achieved before,” he said.
‘So it’s a big motivation for us to see the support that, even with the war going on, we see pictures of people watching the games in Gaza and all over Palestine.
‘So this gives us a lot of hope. And hopefully this will keep us going, but we pray that everything stops and peace prevails in the area because it really is enough.”
It comes as more than 35,000 people are estimated to have died since Israel declared war on Hamas in Gaza in October.