Palestine U23s set to face South Africa in Hebron

Palestine last played host to South Africa in 2011.

Palestine’s Olympic squad have secured a date with their South Africa counterparts ahead of Olympic qualifying. Al-Fida’i will face the Bafana Bafana in Hebron as they prepared to tangle with Asian heavyweights Iran and Saudi Arabia in an attempt to qualify for the AFC U-23 Championship in January 2016. The top three finishers in that tournament will qualify for the Olympics in Rio later that year.

Rounding out Group C are Afghanistan and Nepal who bookend Palestine’s four matches in Iran.

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Palestine last faced South Africa in November 2011. A pair of unofficial friendlies between an all WBPL team and South Africa’s developmental side saw plenty of tinkering and two 1-1 draws. The friendlies marked the start of the Jamal Mahmoud era who parlayed a competent display there to a friendly win over Bahrain in December and a fourth place finish at the Pan Arab Games.

Former Orlando Pirates boss Owen Da Gama has called up 23 players for this encounter slated for March 14th and a 4 PM kickoff.

South Africa will continue onwards to Khartoum after their trip to Palestine where they will kickoff All-Africa qualifying against Sudan. South African youth squads have excelled as of late at the continental level and the Rainbow Nation is hoping those players can make the jump into the U23 side which will feature quite a few new faces.