September 3rd 2023: This Week in Palestinian Football

What does the presence of players actively playing in the Israeli Leagues mean for the future of the national team.

A return to competitive action for both the senior and U23 teams is now upon us. On September 6th the senior team will take on Oman in Muscat while the Olympic team will look to qualify for the U23 AFC Asian Cup finals when they take on Bahrain and Japan in Manama on September 6th and 9th.

A 24 man squad with four new names was announced earlier this week by Makram Dabboub:

There were changes galore as key players Oday Dabbagh and Musab Al-Battat returned to the fold but more importantly was the inclusion of four uncapped players left back Camilo Saldaña (UD San Felipe/Chile), Amid Mahajna (Hapoel Umm El-Fahm/Liga Luemit), Alaa Aldeen Hassan (Abna Sakhnin/Liga Ha’al), and Ali Abu Alfa (Altglienicke/Germany).

Obviously the presence of Hassan and Mahajna have wider- positive- implications for the national team. We’ll cover that after the pawall as well as analyzing the U23 squad.

The squad itself is immaculately balanced. So much so, that you can imagine Palestine’s Asian Cup squad to be very similar to this one. As mentioned before, there are 15-16 players that are sure bets to make the trip to Qatar and the question is more about who will provide depth to the core group.

There are eight defenders in this squad- two alternates at each position. Two strikers (if you count Dabbagh as a #9), two left wingers, and two right wingers. The midfield is made up of two #6s (Rashid and Kharoub), two #8s (Jaber and Yamin) and two #10s (Maraaba and Jonathan).

It’s a far cry from the squad that travelled to Indonesia and China in June which was heavy on defenders and bereft of attacking options.

Senior Squad Analysis

Any squad announcement usually becomes a discussion about who isn’t there. The big absences are Mohammed Saleh and Mahmoud Wadi but that is perhaps understandable given that the latter is trying to establish himself with his new club- Arab Contractors and the former is due to sign for a club imminently.

The experimentation continues at the #10 position and the options on offer in this squad will be very familiar to fans of the Palestine national team. Sameh Maraaba has been in good form with Jabal Al-Mukaber and has earned his first call up in two years. Maraaba’s issue has been his defensive workrate and in a 4-3-3 he has struggled to impose himself. Jonathan has a good track record with the national team but a horrendous 2019 Asian Cup has seen him sparsely used. He is currently without a club but given that he played at club level as a volante he might have the inside on track on sticking with the national team.

Should both players fail to convince then there could be an expirementation with the likes of Alaa Aldeen Hassan at the position or perhaps Muhamed Alghoul gets called up for next month’s friendlies.

In attack, Saleh Chihadeh makes the trip fresh off of his first start and first goal for SC Kriens.

Getting to Know the New Players