KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 9 — Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has laid blame on both the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and football fans for the flare incident that led to the suspension of yesterday’s World Cup qualifying match between Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.

Khairy, who explained on Twitter that he was present at the Shah Alam Stadium, said he had witnessed the “embarrassing” incident and labelled as wrong the behaviour of those throwing flares and the failed control of the stadium.

“FAM lost control of their own stadium. Fans throwing flares were wrong. Both at fault tonight,” he wrote last night in another tweet.

According to news reports, the smoke flares were thrown onto the football pitch just shortly after Saudi Arabia scored two goals against Malaysia at the Shah Alam Stadium.

Malaysia was initially leading 1-0 when its player Mohd Safiq Rahim scored in the 70th minute, but Saudi Arabia’s Taisir Al-Jassim scored three minutes later, followed by the latter’s Mohammed Al-Sahlawi’s goal 76 minutes into the game.

Smoke from the flares filled the ground, forcing players from both sides to leave the football pitch, news wire Reuters had reported.

Just last Thursday, Malaysia suffered a 10-0 loss to the United Arab Emirates.

The shocking defeat to the UAE in the World Cup qualifier also follows a 1-1 draw at home by lowly East Timor and a 0-6 defeat to Palestine in June.

Yesterday, Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah announced that he will resign as the president of Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) over the national team’s 10-0 defeat to the United Arab Emirates, national news agency Bernama reported.

Dollah Salleh had last Friday resigned as the national team’s coach, while former international midfielder Ong Kim Swee was appointed as interim coach.

Yesterday, Ong was reported calling for Malaysian football fans to not cause interference during the Malaysia-Saudi Arabia game.