September 10th, 2023: This Week in Palestinian Football

Looking ahead to Monday's friendly vs. Vietnam and further ahead to what lies in wait for this generation of U23 players

It has been an active week. One so busy that we could not even dedicate coverage to a very interesting bit of transfer news. The Al-Badarin brothers have signed with Shabab Al-Samu’ in the WBPL. The move is designed for both brothers to stay in consideration for the U23s and senior teams. Monir, the younger of the two brothers, was the youngest and best player during the U20s run to the semifinals of the Arab Cup.

Speaking of Palestine’s youth teams- for those of you who missed the games Palestine got off to a great start in U23 AFC Asain Cup qualifying defeating Bahrain 1-0.

Their qualifying hopes hang by a thread following an honorable 1-0 loss to Japan due to the whacky qualifying format employed by the AFC.

Barring a miracle on the final match day, Palestine will miss out on the 16-team finals and the Olympics because of their inability to garner a point against Asia’s best side.

This leads us to an important question:

What is the point of the Youth Teams?

In Asia very few seem to get the bigger picture. The Asian Football Confederation is totally lost as well. Qualifying to play in the Olympics or even U20 World Cup serves no purpose it is a false sense of glory because success in the sport of football is determined by what your senior team does in the World Cup and Asian Cup.

Iraq forged passports for years and got the glory of a World Cup semifinal and appearances at the U20 World Cup but in the end their football suffered because they never could properly renew their side with young and energetic players.

You succeed in football if you have a pipeline. Sometimes that pipeline is so good that you dominate youth football but oftentimes it is not necessarily the case. In Europe if you are good enough you get fast tracked to the national team and leave your friends behind to toil in the youth team.

Kylian Mbappe could have played at the Olympics in 2021 and the last time he represented France at youth level he was fifteen years old.

For Palestine, maybe it is better that their participation ends early. There are more important tournaments to focus on- World Cup qualification begins in November the Asian Cup kicks off in January and players like Wajdi Nabhan, Zaid Qunbar, Hamza Hussein, and Abdelhadi Yasin have every chance to be part of those squads.

If it all does come to an end on Tuesday night for this generation then hopefully they can use the Asian Games later this month as their showcase tournament.

Palestine look to rebound vs. Vietnam