Palestine face Malaysia in the first friendly of the Abu Jazar era
Notable absences will force coaching staff to experiment against a much improved Malaysian national team. Kickoff is set for 4 PM Jerusalem time.
After much delay and speculation, Palestine have finally revealed the squad that will face Malaysia in Johor on Monday. There are some notable absences including Amid Mahajna, Ataa Jaber, Oday Dabbagh, Mohamad Hebous, Ameed Sawafta, and Assad Al-Hamlawi who miss the friendly due to injury.
Zaid Qunbar has also pulled out of the squad as a consequence of his wedding. A reshuffle of the reserve goalkeepers was also necessary as Rami Jabareen and Mahdi Assi were called up to the U23 side for Asian Cup qualifiers. In their place is 17 year old Mohammed Baydoun.
Omar Faraj gets his first call up under Ehab Abu Jazar following the withdrawals of Qunbar, Dabbagh, and Al-Hamlawi.
“We have many absences, seven important players,
from the national team.” Abu Jazar told the media in the pre-match press conference. Mohammed Saleh who travelled with the team to Malaysia is a late injury scratch. Agustín Manzur was initially called up but then excluded due to his involvement in the title race in Paraguay.
The Palestine manager also mentioned that the team had avoided scheduling friendlies in the September window due to players not being in the best physical shape following the off-season. In spite of the injuries, Abu Jazar assured members of the media that the team would be prepared and buoyed by the support of the Malaysian fans.
A debut for former Emilio Saba will have to wait due to a delay in getting his paperwork processed by FIFA. The former U23 Peru captain will likely make his debut next month. A first ever call up was handed to Union Española midfielder Felipe Massri. The 23 year old was a highly rated prospect but a serious injury has limited to a single appearance with his club this season.
The rest of the squad is as follows:
As for Malaysia, seven players based abroad are included in the 29-man squad who ply their trade in Thailand, Japan, Scotland, Colombia, Spain, and Vietnam. That number belies the cosmopolitan nature of the squad which has been rebuilt over the past decade by naturalizing foreign players who have spent more than five years in Malaysia while also mining the diaspora for talent.
Eleven players are part of the diaspora that were either born abroad or left Malaysia during their childhood. That includes captain Dion Cools who represented Belgium at youth level before switching allegiance in 2021. Also part of this group are Spanish based defenders Facundo Garcés (born in Argentina) and Gabriel Palermo. Richard Chin, Stuart Wilkin, Daniel Ting, Quentin Cheng, Nooa Laine, La’Vere Corbin-Ong, Hong Wan, and Jon Irazabal round out the diaspora talent in the squad.
Irazabal, who was born in Bilbao, was a part of Athletic Club’s academy during the same period as Palestine international Yaser Hamed.
Six naturalized players are in the squad Paulo Josué, Endrick, and Ezequiel Agüero are holdovers from the last cycle and are joined by Romel Morales, Rodrigo Holgado, João Figueiredo. The last two players debuted against Vietnam in June and both scored in a 4-0 Asian Cup qualifying rout.
After dispatching Singapore 2-1 on September 4th, Capitan Dion Cools and defender Facundo Garcés were released back to their clubs. That decision will open the door for other players to stake their claim to a starting spot should they impress against Palestine.
The last two times these sides met was during 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying. Palestine won the first encounter at the Bukit Jalil Stadium and won the return fixture in Jordan by the same scoreline.
Only four players remain from that side for Palestine. Rami Hamadi was the reserve goalkeeper for both matches and Toufic Ali the starter- their roles are now reversed. Musab Al-Battat scored their first international goals at the Bukit Jalil.
Malaysia have had a complete overhaul with only defender Shahrul Saad left from what many consider the worst ever Malaysia squad. Saad made his debut against Palestine in Amman but has rebounded from the 6-0 loss to make 60 appearances for Harimau Malaya.