July 2, 2023: This Week in Palestinian Football

Another Arab Cup on the horizon? Examining how Palestine's senior team can improve ahead of WCQ and the 2023 Asian Cup

Programming Note: Palestine’s U23 Team kicks off their Pan Arab Games campaign tonight vs Mauritania at 11 PM Jerusalem time. Stream will be available on footballpalestine.com

It might not come to pass but signs are pointing to another edition of the Arab Cup being held in 2023. The 2021 edition served as the warm-up event for Qatar’s World Cup and was wildly successful- leaving fans asking why such a tournament had been neglected for the past decade.

Football Palestine has learned that the Palestine Football Association was one of the FAs to receive an invite to participate in the tournament. The exploratory date was in October although reports from Egypt say that December might also be a possibility.

Qatar is desperate to get its new manager, Carlos Querioz, as much competitive game action in order to challenge for a second straight appearance at the FIFA World Cup. The Qatari team is currently participating in CONCACAF’s regional tournament- the Gold Cup. This tournament would make sense for both Asian and African teams who will start their qualifying campaigns in November 2023 before playing their delayed contitental championships in January 2024.

World Cup qualifying picture comes into focus

We learned a little bit more about what World Cup qualification will look like yesterday thanks to a press release from the AFC. Northern Mariana Islands- an AFC member without FIFA status will take part in Asian Cup qualification but will not join in Round 1. Instead they will have a chance to play against sides who lost in Round 1 of World Cup qualifcation for a spot in stand alone Asian Cup qualification.

The draw for Asian World Cup qualification is set to take place on July 27th. The preliminary round will take place during the October international window and will feature the twenty lowest ranked sides playing a home and away playoff. The ten winners then join the rest of Asia in Round 2 which features nine groups of four teams.

Palestine will need to finish in the top two spots in Round 2 to ensure progression to Round 3- a stage that features three groups of six teams. The top two teams in each group qualify for the World Cup finals while the bottom two in each group are eliminated.

The remaining six teams advance to a playoff round hosted in a centralized location. The hosts of the groups will be the teams with the best records in Round 3. The winners of each group advance to the World Cup finals. While the second place teams play a home and away playoff to determine who advances to the intercontinetal playoff.

So, the formula for Palestine is quite simple: Avoid finishing in the bottom two spots of the group in rounds 2, 3, and 4. That alone would be enough to qualify for the World Cup in the USA, Canada, and Mexico.

Examining what Palestine’s best squad looks likew