Palestine midfielder hails ‘amazing’ Asian Cup progress as history made
Palestine’s fans and players celebrated a historic milestone at the Asian Cup on Tuesday as the team advanced to the knockout stage of the tournament for the first time in its history.
A 3-0 victory over Hong Kong at the Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium in Doha ensured that Palestine made it through to a last-16 match as one of the best third-place teams.
Oday Dabbagh was Palestine’s hero with the forward, who plays for Belgian club Charleroi, netting two goals either side of a strike from Zaid Qunbar.
The result means a match against either Australia or Qatar awaits Makram Daboub’s team in the next round.
At one stage, Palestine was heading through as runner-up of Group B but a late consolation goal for UAE in its 2-1 defeat to Iran means the Emiratis secured a more favourable knockout tie against Asian Cup debutants Tajikistan.
Still, Palestine’s players fell to their knees at the final whistle, knowing they had done enough to progress past the group stage for the first time in the country’s history.
Against a backdrop of Israel’s relentless bombing of Gaza, midfielder Mohammed Rashid dedicated his team’s success on the pitch to the Palestinian people.
“Of course it is an amazing feeling,” Rashid said after the match. “We have just made a whole nation happy. A whole nation that is under a lot of distress, a lot of destruction – a heartbroken people.”
“It feels amazing to make people feel happy back home. This was one of the top goals we had… to make people happy through football. The second was to make it through to the second round of the tournament.”
Palestine will discover its last-16 opponent on Wednesday but knows for sure it will either be reigning champions Qatar or 2015 winners Australia.
“Now we have reached two of our goals, we are looking forward to the second round to see what we can do,” Rashid added.
Rashid’s former international teammate, Chilean-born Yashir Islame Pinto, played at the 2019 Asian Cup when Palestine was knocked out at the group stage. This time he was among those watching the historic match against Hong Kong unfold from home.
Now playing for Police Tero FC in Thailand, Islame said that he was “really happy for Palestine” and wished the team well for the rest of the tournament.
Ahead of the victory against Hong Kong, a minute’s silence over the ongoing conflict in Gaza was drowned out by shouts of ‘Free Palestine.’ After the match, captain Mosab Al-Battat said his team had fulfilled “a promise we made to the Palestinian people.”
He added: “I would like to thank all those who supported us. We managed to put a smile on the faces of those who follow us… inside or outside Palestine.”
Palestine’s Tunisian coach Daboub also expressed his delight at the result, admitting that his players “knew this match was decisive… especially concerning the current circumstances that Palestine is going through.”
