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Palestine Starting XI: Baraa Kharoub, Musab Al-Battat, Michel Termanini (Amid Mahajna), Yaser Hamed Mayor, Camilo Saldaña (Mohammed Khalil), Odai Kharoub, Ataa Jaber (Mohammed Rashid), Jonathan Cantillana (Moustafa Zeidan), Mahmoud Abu Warda (Omar Faraj) Oday Dabbagh, Wessam Abou Ali
Substitutions: Mohammed Khalil <-> Camilo Saldaña 46’ // Moustafa Zeidan <-> Jonathan Cantillana 46’ // Amid Mahajna <-> Michel Termanini 62’ // Omar Faraj <-> Mahmoud Abu Warda 83’ // Mohammed Rashid <-> Ataa Jaber 83’
Cautions: Mahmoud Abu Warda 42’, Michel Termanini 52’
Goals: Wessam Abou Ali 41’
Recap: There are many derbies that fail to live up to the hype. Palestine vs. Jordan is simply not one of them. It has been 48 years and 12 games since Palestine beat their neighbours and unfortunately a maiden victory will have to wait another six months.
Both teams were affected by injuries coming into the game. For Jordan, their talisman Musa Al-Tamari’s torn achilles ruled him out of the most crucial of derbies to make matters worse his natural replacement, Muhammed Abu Zurayq, was also ruled out through injury.
In spite of the lack of similar personnel Jamal Sellami elected to make only a single change to his line-up. Ehsan Haddad returned to the right wing back spot he marshalled throughout the Asian Cup while Mahmoud Al-Mardi was pushed into attack.
Makram Daboub was left with his own injury headaches, Rami Hamadi and Tamer Seyam picked up injuries in the final training session which left the Tunisian reluctant to ring in more changes than absolutely necessary. Baraa Kharoub started in goal for the first time in an official match while Mahmoud Abu Warda was deployed in his more natural spot on the wing.
Palestine started the brighter of the two teams and were duly awarded an attacking free kick mere seconds into the match. Yaser Hamed’s mistimed header sailed high but Palestine were intent on putting the more experienced Jordanians under pressure from the outset.
A release valve for that pressure came in the fifth minute. Michel Termanini pressed into midfield and did not win a header cleanly. That was all Yazan Al-Naimat needed to turn into a Mansaf powered Kylian Mbappe. It looked like Musab Al-Battat and Yaser Hamed had done enough to cover the danger but Al-Naimat uncorked a screamer for the opener from a wide position.
To Palestine’s credit they fought back to gain a foothold in the game but the goal had given Jordan buckets of confidence. The team was lucky not to go down by two goals with Ali Olwan and Noor Al-Rashidan denied by debutant Baraa Kharoub.
Palestine found their heads after the 33rd minute cooling break and a long ball played in by Mahmoud Abu Warda found Camilo Saldaña who looped in a brilliant cross for Wessam Abou Ali’s first goal with Palestine.
In spite of Jordan’s 10 shots and Palestine’s three the first half ended 1-1 with momentum in Palestine’s favour.
It was perhaps that momentum that caused Makram Daboub to gamble. In the Tunisian’s tactician’s defense he did throw on Mohammed Khalil to bolster the left flank at half time and deciding to give Moustafa Zeidan 45 minutes nearly produced the go-ahead goal mere seconds into the half.
Good work from Odai Kharoub found Zeidan who held off his defenders and played a ball that eluded Dabbagh and Wessam Abou Ali.
Instead it was Jordan following the script from the first half. Mahmoud Al-Mardi this time taking advantage of defenders over-committing to loop Yazan Al-Naimat in for his second of the night.
If Baraa Kharoub was unlucky on the first he surely could have done better here.
Palestine then found themselves on the ropes in a game that went back and forth. Oday Dabbagh and Wessam Abou Ali nearly combined for the equalizer only for Jordan to go down the other end and hit the crossbar through Ali Olwan.
Makram Daboub brought on Amid Mahajna for Michel Termanini to stem the bleeding and while things marginally improved, Jordan would not be denied. A deserved third goal did arrive in the 72nd minute and the game petered out from there.
Al-Fida’i will be left to rue their luck much as they had three years earlier. Had Palestine scored in critical junctures at this game things might have turned out differently. A March rematch in Amman should prove to be a tasty affair.
What I liked: The team fought and got itself back in the game. Make no mistake, Jordan deserved to win this game given the amount of chances they created. At one point in the second half they were beating Palestine’s offside trap at will. That said Palestine hung in there and went into the dressing room at 1-1. Even after Jordan went ahead, the team remained calm as the game got stretched.
I think at this stage of qualifying it is paramount to avoid blowouts. Palestine managed to limit the damage. This is a marathon and not a sprint and goal difference could be absolutely critical in determining the final standings.
What I didn’t like: I understand why Makram Daboub stuck with the 4-4-2 given that he had to make two emergency substitutions. I also understand the lack of rotations. That said, playing 4-4-2 would work against a team that is going to look to maintain possession.
Jordan are one-trick ponies (and credit to them nobody has figured out how to effectively stop their game plan over the last eight months) and we knew how well the 4-3-3 worked against them in 2021. We gave up a numerical advantage in midfield; given when Jordan’s goals came they could play conservatively in defence denying us the chance to expose their own weaknesses in the back.
Kuala Lumpur: The fans were great but the lasting memory will be the horrendous pitch which resulted in Tamer Seyam and Rami Hamadi pulling up injured. The latter will be in a race against time to be fit for the October window. Questions must be asked as to the arrangements that went into organising this “home” match.
What’s next: Palestine travel to Basra to play Iraq on October 10th before possibly hosting Kuwait- in Jerusalem- on October 15th.
