RIYADH: Palestine national team produced one of its worst performances in recent times, with a 0-4 loss to Saudi Arabia.
The group D clash, one of four Asian qualifying matches taking place in this international break, has exposed the weaknesses and problems of Palestine on and off the pitch.
Palestine couldn’t produce a single decent football move against Saudi Arabia (Photo: Saudi Arabia national team official Twitter)
Sources in Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦:
— Uri Levy (@Levyninho) March 29, 2021
Oday Dabbagh, Palestine 🇵🇸 national team star, won’t join the Palestinian squad for the #WCQ against Saudi Arabia, tomorrow in Riyadh. In addition, more surprising changes in the Fida’i lineup for the match are expected #AsianQualifiers
Do politics delve in?
Before the match, the problems started to occur at the administrative and organizational level.
First, Oday Dabbagh, Palestine best player, who was called up for the match - couldn’t arrive from Kuwait after the Palestinian FA did not receive the needed approvals for him.
On the matchday itself, the coach Nourredine Ould Ali took all the bad decisions with the line-up. Mohammed Bassem, Saudi Al-Jeel’s defensive midfielder at the best form of his career, started on the bench;
Mohammed Saleh, Egyptian Al-Masry’s defender, probably the best defender for the Fidai, was benched as well; Mohammed Darwish, one of three Israeli citizen players in the squad and one of the leaders of the national team in recent years - benched; and at last, Rami Hamadeh, who is guarding Palestine goal since he is 16, who is currently playing for Israeli club, Bnei Sakhnin, who became the first active Israeli Premier League to get a call-up for the Fida’i, has been bizarrely left out from the squad. According to sources in Saudi Arabia, there was pressure on the national team from different Palestinian sources, not to include a player of an Israeli team, in an official match of the Fidai. Whether it is true or not, the decisions haven’t felt to have any professional basis.
BREAKING: Rami Hamadeh, Bnei Sakhnin GK, is set to be left out of the 🇵🇸 XI for the Saudi Arabia #WCQ match!
— Uri Levy (@Levyninho) March 30, 2021
According to sources there was a pressure on the NT from different Palestinian sources not to include a player of an Israeli team in an official match. Politics. Shame.
FIRST HALF
Palestine started the match with an extremely defensive approach, and soon the Saudis began to hit. On the 37th minute, Yasser Al-Shahrani scored the first after a horrible mistake of the goalkeeper Toufic Ali. Six minutes later, another mistake by Ali and Fahd Al-Muwallad notched the second. 2-0 at halftime, as the Palestinians were in a complete shock. The quality gaps were evident and present.
SECOND HALF
The second half was a direct continuation of the first. Saleh Al-Shehri scored a quick brace in the 52nd and 57th minutes. Palestine looked nowhere like a professional football team. The substitutions were bad and not on point or in any relation to what went on the field. On the 88th minute, Saudi won a penalty after Ahmed Qatmesh fouled one of the Saudis in his own box. Salem Al-Dawsari converted easily, and it was 5-0 to the Green Falcons.
As World Cup 2022 is completely off the radar for them, the Palestinians need to be careful to lose their chances for the 2023 Asian Cup. As long as off-field issues will continue to influence the professional calls, it can become a realistic scenario.
