Thankfully, sometimes not-good things happen to not-very-good people.

Saudi Arabia’s football federation threw around its weight to mess with a 2018 World Cup qualifying process that should not have yielded to their demands and machinations.

They got their way everywhere but on the pitch, where they were held to a scoreless draw tonight by Palestine at a neutral site, Amman, Jordan.

And that was the sound of right-thinking people clapping.

This is one of those weird Asian soccer episodes you would not find in Europe nor in South America. Probably not even in Concacaf.

To recap:

Saudi is part of the five-team Group A in the second round of Asia qualifying for Russia 2018.

Their recent indifferent international results meant they were not ranked highly enough by Fifa, back in April, to be placed in Pot 1, made up of the eight highest-ranked teams in Asia. The UAE, however, was one of the eight, and Saudi was pulled from Pot 2 for the UAE’s group.

The winners of the eight second-ground groups advance to the final round of qualifying for Russia, as do the four second-place teams with the best records.

Saudi from the start has demanded special treatment.

Their first match was supposed to have been away to Palestine in Ramallah. The Saudis, however, insisted the match be played in Saudi, with the return match to be played in Palestine. Asking for a schedule change on the basis of, in theory, political trouble in the West Bank. (And perhaps an unwillingness to spend even one second on Israeli-held soil.)

Saudi got what it wanted.

The match was moved to Damman, and Saudi won 3-2 in the final minute, in June. The return match would be played in Palestine. In theory.

During the summer, Israel and Palestine, whose poor political relations (in soccer as well as everything else), were part of a discussion at a Fifa congress. Palestine was threatening to lead a move to get Israel kicked out of Fifa, and might have pulled it off.

However, Sepp Blatter intervened and, in perhaps the last good thing he did as Fifa president, arranged a settlement. Palestine’s players would be able to move around, even from the Gaza Strip, without interference from Israel.

Given the new reality, the UAE dutifully traveled to the West Bank in September and played in Ramallah, before a noisy, sellout crowd, on an artificial surface, and the match finished 0-0.

The UAE dropping two points there allowed Saudi to move to the top of the group. But everyone figured, “Wait till Saudi has to go to the West Bank.”

That was supposed to happen in October.

First, Saudi demanded the match be moved to a neutral site, citing “security” concerns. Fifa agreed, and the match was moved to Amman, Jordan.

Then, Palestine said, “Hey, wait a minute. We want our home game played at home,” and soccer authorities reconsidered and agreed. The game would be played in the West Bank.

Days passed. Saudi then sent a note to Fifa saying its team would not go to the West Bank because of security concerns, and it was widely assumed that one Fifa member not showing up to meet another Fifa member in a World Cup qualifier … would suffer a 3-0 forfeit defeat. Or worse.

Then, the Asian Football Confederation intervened. They said the match would be played in Jordan, after all, and Palestine (and Fifa) gave in. That would be poor, broke Palestine, which depends on cash infusions from countries like Saudi Arabia to stagger along.

It was scandalous. A wealthy Gulf country pushing around a small, weak Middle East neighbor, all to gain a competitive advantage.

It was never made clear what sort of danger the Saudi team or traveling party might face. The Israelis were sure to wave through the team buses on their short period of time on Israeli soil. And Palestine’s fans presumably would have no trouble with the Saudi team.

This could have been worse only if Saudi had shown up at Amman and beaten Palestine. On grass. At a neutral site.

They did not. They had lots of chances against a Palestine team that has trouble scoring or even holding the ball … and it ended 0-0.

So, the UAE lost 0-0, in Ramallah, but Saudi couldn’t take advantage in their neutral-site match in Jordan.

Now, if the UAE can win out, the team brave enough to go to Palestine likely will finish ahead of the Saudis — and maybe the bad sports will miss the final round of Asia qualifying entirely.

(Note: Neither Saudi Arabia nor the UAE will play East Timor away. East Timor’s national stadium is a mess. The UAE’s match with the Timorese was moved to Kuala Lumpur (ending 1-0 to the UAE), and the Saudis will play the Timorese in Sri Lanka next week.)