Palestine has been drawn alongside Jordan, Sudan, and Libya in Group 3 of the football tournament at the Pan-Arab Games. Considering Palestine’s status as one of the lowest ranked teams it is a manageable group as Al-Fursan have traditionally fared well against their group opponents.
The other groups are as follows:
Group 1: Qatar, Iraq, Bahrain, Syria
Group 2: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Somalia
Group winners will advance to the semifinals alongside the best second place team.
Palestine has played Libya once before- a 2-2 draw at the 1999 Pan Arab Games helped Palestine win the group enroute to a third place finish. They also boast a similar record against Sudan- drawing 2-2 at the 2002 Arab Cup (I can’t believe that great competition no longer exists!) and more recently drawing 1-1 in Ommdourman in June 2010.
And of course there is Jordan- Palestine’s second most frequent opponent (7 encounters, 4 D 3L) since joining FIFA in 1998. Palestine have drawn the last three encounters 1-1 in 2002, 2004, and 2008. Jordan’s last win came in 2000 in Asian Cup qualifying- Palestine’s first qualification campaign.
The form book can thrown out the window, however, if Palestine don’t hire a new manager soon. The first match, against Jordan, is slated for December 11th and at this point it looks likely that Palestine will be led by an interim manager.
