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One month is all that separates Palestine from their opening game against Iran at the 2023 Asian Cup Finals.
Two days ago, the national team departed Palestine via Jordan en route to Algeria. Annaba in the east of the country will be the team’s home for the next fortnight.
The charges called up by Makram Daboub feature some key absences due to the fact that the international break has yet to arrive. Clubs are only required to release players 13 days before the start of the tournament meaning the national team will be without foreign based players for the entirety of their 10 day stay in Algeria.
The 19 player list is made up of mostly WBPL based players. The only exception being Islam Batran who is without a club since leaving Nongbua Pitchaya at the culmination of last season.
Four players have never been called into a senior national team camp before. While a whopping nine players have never played in an official match for Palestine.
Football Palestine has learned that there will be a pair of additions to the squad later in camp. Union San Felipe’s Camilo Saldaña will join the side alongside the team’s starting goalkeeper, Rami Hamadi, who was given special dispensation to miss the start of camp due to personal reasons.
One surprise absence is that of Mohammed Yamin. There has been no word as to why he has not traveled to Algeria with the rest of the squad but it would be a seismic shock if Yamin were to miss out on the 23 man squad as he has featured in 14 of 18 of the matches that Daboub has coached and only missed out the squad once- in September 2021- due to injury.
Except Yamin and several other national team stalwarts to join the side in the second phase of their preparations in Saudi Arabia where the team is expected to camp before traveling to Qatar on January 3rd.
Warm Up Matches
Palestine is expected to dispute a series of friendlies while in Algeria. The first of which will be against USM Annaba on Friday. The real warm-up matches will begin in earnest next month. The Saudi Football Federation has already announced a friendly for the 9th of January in Qatar.
There is also a friendly against Uzbekistan- yet to be announced- that will most likely be held in the United Arab Emirates were the Central Asians will be holding camp.
These matches will be critical for Palestine whose squad will be made up of many players who have not played a competitive match with their clubs since early October.
