August 27th, 2023: This Week in Palestinian Football

With the first match days of the local leagues in the books. Focus now turns to Olympic and Senior Team games next week.

Slowly but surely we are approaching crunch time- especially when it comes to the Olympic Team and their chances of making a run at qualifying for Paris 2024.

A successful qualification may not come to pass but this generation of players will need to at least prove they are capable of matching Oday Dabbagh’s generation who qualified for the U23 Asian Cup in 2018 by topping a group that included Jordan, Tajikistan, and Bangladesh.

In order to ensure that this part of the calendar would be well used both the coaching staffs of the Olympic and Senior teams pushed for the season to start earlier.

There are two match days in the books in the West Bank and three done and dusted in Gaza. Players also took part in Cup competitions ensuring that players are match fit and raring to go.

Before we get into the prepatations for both the senior and U23 teams let us look at how Palestinians Abroad did this week:

Mahmoud Eid bagged a pair of assists and had a goal ruled out as Bangkok United beat Lamphun Warrior 2-0 to go top of the Thai League. SofaScore Rating: 8.3/10

Tamer Seyam was the best rated player in the 2-2 draw between PT Prachaup FC and Nakhon Pathom United. In 89 minutes of play Seyam produced one shot on target, 79% passing success, creating one big chance, while winning 10/18 duels. SofaScore Rating: 7.8/10

Palestine’s midfield duo enjoyed good weeks following reverses in continental competitions. Both Mohammed Rashid and Ataa Jaber went the full 90 in Indonesia and Azerbaijan, respetively.

Rashid and Bali United’s 2-1 win over Barito Putera lifted them to fourth in the table, three points off the top. Ataa Jaber’s Neftchi Baku’s 2-0 win over Qabala was the first win after four matches- lifting Neftchi to midtable, seven points off the leaders.

Oday Dabbagh was on the bench for the second straight game but did provide the assist (although that was later credited to Adam Zograne) for Charleroi’s equalizer after entering the game in the 46th minute. The team gave up a goal shortly thereafter to fall 2-1 to Anderlecht. Les Zebres are still in search for their first win of the season- Dabbagh has had a hand in all three goals they have scored thusfar. SofaSocre Rating: 6.6/10

Muhamed Alghoul got his first start for Keflavik IF. Going the full 90 in a 0-0 draw against Fram. Saleh Chihadeh also got his second debut with SC Kriens in a 3-1 Swiss Cup victory against FC Mendrisio playing 14 minutes. Later in the week, Chihadeh played 45 minutes in a 1-1 draw against FC Luzern’s reserves.

Olympic Team looks to seize the opportunity

The main takeaway from the U23s in the WAFF Championship and Pan Arab Games? Their inability to finish chances.