Rapid Reaction: Kyrgyzstan 0:0 Palestine (International Friendly)
Scoreless draw showcased Palestine's strengths and shortcomings after six month layoff.
Palestine Starting XI: Rami Hamadi, Musab Al-Battat, Mohammed Saleh, Khalid Abu El Haija, Ahmed Taha (Wajdi Nabhan 58’) ; Agustin Manzúr (Khaled Al-Nabris 58’), Odai Kharoub (Ameed Sawafta 58’), Hamed Hemdan (Abdulhadi Rashed 80’); Tamer Seyam (Badr Moussa 58’), Zaid Qunbar, Oday Dabbagh (Francisco Politino 75’)
FULL MATCH
HIGHLIGHTS
Recap: Palestine and Kyrgyzstan met for the first time in nearly five years in Bishkek tonight. A friendly in Asia five days out from the start of the World Cup featuring two teams not headed to North America was not top billing amongst the slew of other friendlies. In spite of the lack of glamour, the friendly was of upmost importance for both sides whose attention is no squarely focused on the 2027 Asian Cup in January.
The first quarter of the game was testy and featured little in the way of fluid play for either team. Palestine’s first real chance came off of a poorly cleared corner kick that bounced out to Hamed Hemdan had the first shot followed by a quick transition that required Rami Hamadi to make a routine save.
Kyrgyzstan then carved out two scoring opportunities following a corner kick and free kick but Rami Hamadi snuffed out the danger on both occasions.
Palestine then found some rhythm with Manzur dropping deeper to collect and build. Hamed Hemdan ended up the most advanced of the midfield trio and a rocket shot was goalbound until a late intervention by the Kyrgyz keeper parried it wide.
The rest of the first half fell into a pattern Palestine would win a corner- fail to capitalize on it and thend struggle to defend Kyrgyzstan’s counterattacks. For their part, the hosts also won a slew of corner kicks as well.
The biggest indictment of first half proceedings was that Oday Dabbagh, starved of the ball, was largely anonymous. The team’s lack of speed either side of him and the inclusion of three more defensive midfielders meant the team was solid but lacked fluidity in possession and a threat in transition.
One would have expected to see personnel changes at the break to remedy the problem but Palestine trotted out an unchanged lineup. The players did comeout with more urgeny and the first two minutes saw Palestine generate good ream play and chances that Tamer Seyam and Ahmed Taha failed to steer on target.
Zaid Qunbar had the best chance of the night but his header off a freekick from Tamer Seyam was saved by Erzhan Tokotayev.
The changed did come ten minutes into the second half with a quadruple substitution that saw Khaled Al-Nabris, Wajdi Nabhan, Ameed Sawafta, and Badr Moussa take the places of Agustin Manzúr, Ahmed Taha, Odai Kharoub, and Tamer Seyam. Moussa and Sawafta were particularly effective at influencing proceedings and it looked like Palestine would find a deserved goal.
That breakthrough was not to come and when Hamed Hemdan went down with cramps with ten minutes to go there was no like-for-like replacement. Abdulhadi Rashed came on for his first official cap but Palestine’s grip on midfield had been loosened and the match peetered out.
What I Liked: The attitude in the second half. Palestine looked like a different team, pressing and harrying Kyrgyzstan and proving that they are indeed the better team. Kyrgyzstan are stubborn opponents at home and the way the match played out it was effective in mimicking a competitive match.
There were several bright spots. Abu El Haija showed how much he has developed over the last six months and could be an important part of the next cycle. I also thought Ameed Sawafta and Badr Moussa acquitted themselves well off the bench and should be in line to start the next match.
What I didn’t Like: It was great to see Khaled Abu El Haija start for the first time. That said, I am not sure inverting the centrebacks really helped all that much. For the longest time, Palestine was a threat down the right flank due to the overlapping runs of Musab Al-Battat. He was starved for service because Mohammed Saleh struggles in possession and so no switching ball found its way to him in the first half.
In attack, I have serious doubts that a front three that depends on Qunbar and Seyam to give service to Dabbagh can be truly effective. There needs to be speed on at least one flank and things worked much better when Badr Moussa came on.
Finally, the decision to play no true number ten in midfield backfired on multiple counts. The team really couldn’t find a rhythm in the first half and only improved when Agustín Manzúr dropped back to his natural position and Hamed Hemdan took his place. There was no metronome passing but at least he could press to better effect.
Record Holder: Musab Al-Battat now has the same amount of caps as Abdelatif Al-Bahdari (80). The right back made his debut in 2013 and has featured in every Asian Cup and World Cup qualification campaign since. Ramzi Saleh’s tenure ran from 2000-2015 but Al-Battat’s consistency is unparalleled having featured in at least one match every year with the exception of 2020 (due to COVID).
Changes Needed: This is a settled national team squad largely due the fact that the PFA made the call to hire Ehab Abu Jazar before the World Cup cycle. There are some veterans with close to 50 or more appearances- the captains and the two Odays- Dabbagh and Kharoub- fall into this category. Everyone else, bar the centrebacks (Michel Termanini, Yaser Hamed, and Mohammed Saleh all have between 31 and 42 caps) are relatively new additions to the set up.
Qunbar has 23 caps having made his debut back in 2023. Sawafta has 11. Hemdan and Moussa have 10. Everyone else has less than eight official caps with the national team.
In spite of that it is relatively clear that certain things are settled like the fullback, goalkeeper, central midfielder, and striker positions but other positons are more problematic. Tamer Seyam might not be effective as a starter anymore and the next friendly should feature a different profile player in his place. Sultan Abou Daken should be given a debut and Moustafa Zeidan should be given a chance to run the show in midfield.
What’s Nest: Palestine and Kyrgyzstan will cross swords once again on Tuesday, June 9th at the Dolen Omurzakov Stadium Kickoff is set for 17:30 Jerusalem Time.