Stand-in Captain Ahmed Keshkesh entered the history books in the 7th minute of play as the first player to score an international goal on occupied Palestinian soil.The goal left many Palestinian fans speechless to say the least.The rest of the first half was tactically sound with both sides making advances.Fahed Attal kept the Jordanian defense on their toes and Roberto Bishara and AbdulLatif Bahdari cleared out dangerous balls much to the relief of the crowd.
Palestine couldve doubled with a freekick which hit the crossbar.
Jordans coach Fengada must have told his players at the break to start the second half strong.And that they did,equalising 2 minutes in.The Jordanians kept on pressing for a second goal.Mohamed Shelbaye scored a header which was rightfully deemed offside by the linesman.Both teams were reserved towards the end of the match.Palestine Coach Ezzat Hamza made some defensive substitutions and switched to a 4-5-1.And thats how the game ended: a 1-1 draw.Not a strange result between the two sides.
So what made this a good day?
- The symbolicness of the Palestinian National Team playing kilometres away from East Jerusalem is priceless really.
- We got to see our national team at its near full potential as of this moment with the home crowd behind it.
- Achieved a positive result against a big Asian side.This will translate well into next months FIFA ranking
I’ll leave you with some pictures and what the world press had to say about the match.Cheers!
Palestinian football team held to draw, but scores a victory– The Independent(UK)
Palestinian football team plays on home soil for first time
Palestinian Football Returns Home – BBC
