Palestine to face Algeria's local side in October

Palestine return in Annaba to gear up for the Arab Cup against the friendliest of opposition.

Palestine's preparations for the Arab Cup will continue a pace next month with a doubleheader against Algeria's local side. The Palestine Football Association cast a wide net in search of opposition- that included discussions with Bolivia and one other side from CONMEBOL about a potential October friendly.

Bolivia seemed to be on the cards but the South American side opted to face World Cup finalists Jordan in Turkey before jetting off to Russia.

Palestine then turned their attention elsewhere courting several other Asian sides before agreeing a fixture against Algeria.

In October, Algeria's first team will be looking to wrap up their fifth trip to the World Cup by collecting at least two points in games against Somalia and Uganda. The local side will be looking to gear up to defend the Arab Cup title they secured in 2021.

Leading the charge for Les Fennecs is Madjid Bougherra who returned from a spell coaching Al-Markhiya in Qatar late last year.

In August, the A' side was eliminated from the African Championships, a tournament for locally based players, in spite of not losing a game. A Match Day 1 thrashing of Uganda was followed up with draws against South Africa, Guinea, and Niger which set up a quarterfinal date with Sudan in the quarterfinals. Bougherra's men fell on penalty kicks and saw bitter rivals Morocco once again lift the title.

Palestine have faced the U23 side on three different occasions. In 2016, Palestine triumphed 1-0 courtesy of an Ahmad Abu Nahyeh goal in front of a packed Stade 5 Juillet stadium. Two years later, Sameh Maraaba provided the winner in a game that ended with the same scoreline. The two sides last met in December 2023 in a game that ended 1-1.

The only other time Palestine faced Algeria on the football pitch was back at the 1972 Pan Arab Games. Algeria won that encounter 2-0

The A' side should present a stiffer test to Palestine and could even be reinforced with players based outside of Algeria. Back in 2021, Bougherra called up players based throughout the Arab World giving Algeria one of the strongest sides in the tournament in spite of the numerous absences.

The matches are slated for October 9th and October 13th with kickoff times of 22:30 and 20:00 (Jerusalem time) respectively.