The international break drew to a close on Wednesday with no major movements in the FIFA Rankings. The nature of the new ELO inspired ranking means that it is hard for teams to jump dozens of places in one go as was the case before its adoption in 2018.
Unlike the 2019 edition which seeded the top two pots based on performance in World Cup qualifying, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has decided to utilize the FIFA ranking to see all four pots. Had this methodology been used at the last tournament, Palestine- who were ranked 11th in Asia at the time- would have been a Pot 2 team.
For the 2023 Asian Cup finals, Palestine will be placed in Pot 3 meaning they will not be drawn alongside the following teams Bahrain, Syria, Kyrgyzstan, Vietnam, and Lebanon.
Palestine were 2-1 victors over Bahrain on March 25th lent something of a helping hand to Jordan who could have lost their place in Pot 2 in the event of a loss to Philippines (they won 4-0) and had Bahrain beaten both Palestine and Syria (they prevailed 1-0).
The draw for the 2023 Asian Cup will take place on May 11th at the Katara Opera House in Doha (the draw will take place at 14:00 local time). Below is Palestine’s record in official matches against their potential opponents:
Although the table makes for some grim reading consider that Palestine’s record over the last 10 years against the same slate of opponents is much better. For example, they’ve never lost to a Pot 4 team in that time frame.
Their record against Pot 2 teams is much better as well. Palestine is 0-1-3 against Iraq, 0-1-2 against Jordan, 0-1-1 against UAE, 0-2-0 against China, 1-0-2 against Uzbekistan and 1-0-1 against Oman. 11 points from 15 games signals that Palestine is capable of at least drawing whomever they are grouped with from Pot 2.
Any team Palestine is drawn with from Pot 1 will represent a challenge although Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and even Iran seem to be trending downwards under new management. Palestine has never played Korea at senior level and their lone meetings with Japan and Australia came at the last two Asian Cups.
