October 1, 2023: This Week in Palestinian Football

Focus shifts to the October Friendly window in aftermath of Asian Games R16 exit

The silver lining of Palestine’s exit at the Asian Games is that league football is back in action (in the West Bank- the Gaza League never stopped). One of the big things holding Palestinian football back is that the league season is a mere 22 games, frequent stoppages to allow the Olympic/Senior teams to camp, and the fact that the Palestine Cup has not been played since the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic.

The sad reality is that the WBPL is a professional league in name only. If clubs aren’t playing matches only a tiny fraction of players will take it upon themselves to stay match fit. This harms the national team programs because the coaching staff is stuck working on fitness training instead of tactics.

A common refrain is that the same old players keep getting called up from the WBPL but the reality is there is not a lot to choose from.

The likes of Samer Jondi and Ameed Sawafta were handed debuts by Makram Daboub and have shown in recent friendlies that they cannot be counted on games against the Top 15 teams in Asia.

If the WBPL had more games (say 33 instead of 22) there would be more of a chance to assess talent, rotate teams, and give playing time to youngsters.

So it was especially frustrating to see the league stop for two weeks with little reason. The team sent to the Asian Games only had 17 players- only 11 plied their trade in the WBPL. So why did the league stop? And if it had to stop why was the team sent five players short?

It was good to see the league back in action. Thaqafi Tulkarem’s Hamza Al-Issa scored in his fifth straight WBPL game- he has six goals this season and 10 dating back to Matchday 21 of last season.

Thaqafi Tulkarem’s other goals have been scored by players who were born in the 21st century. Issa is the senior citizen and he was born in November 1999.

Monir Al-Badarin scored on his debut for Shabab Al-Samu’. The 18 year old moved to Palestine to put himself in the frame for a call up.

There is a feeling that there is a new generation ready to breakthrough and with Daboub still looking to for complementary options to his Starting XI we might see these young men in the national team sooner rather than later.

Expect Changes for Merdeka Cup