Palestine's U23 Asian Cup hopes hanging by a thread after 2-1 loss to Kyrgyzstan
Palestine must win their remaining two matches and hope for some help if they are to qualify to next year's U23 Asian Cup
Plus ça change. Palestine's struggles at youth level have continued apace following a late collapse against Kyrgyzstan in U23 Asian Cup qualification. Palestine absolutely needed to avoid defeat against the group hosts to maintain any hope of qualifying for only their second ever youth finals across all age groups.
Palestine started the encounter as the brighter of the two sides in a first half with few chances. Khalid Abu El Haija nearly opened the scoring in the dying embers of the first half only for his thunderous free kick to be parried away by Sultan Chomoev.
Palestine did very little to assert themselves in the second half and as time ticked away Kyrgyzstan presented more of a threat on the counter. The tide changed when Racing Beirut midfielder Jihad Abou Eleneyien had to be substituted off just after the hour mark.
Kyrgyzstan opened the scoring from the penalty spot after Yaza Sharha gave away a cheap penalty kick in the 80th minute. Palestine poured forward in search of an equalizer but were hindered by the same problems that plagued them throughout the match- a lack of ideas in the final third.
Palestine would get their equalizer deep into injury- 19 year old Nuremberg II defender Khalid Abu El Haija took matters into his own hand sprinting up the pitch to latch on to a ball from Mohammed Sandouqa slotting home with aplomb.
The celebration would be short lived as Palestine's defence conceded the winner immediately failing to set an offsides trap or press the ball properly. Mahdi Assi made an initial save but Kimi Merk bagged his brace to capture all three points.
Palestine will face Sri Lanka on September 6th. Sri Lanka fell to a 4-0 loss to Uzbeksitan and Palestine will most likely need to win by a larger margin than that to resuscitate their qualifying hopes.