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Palestine Starting XI: Toufic Ali; Musab Al-Battat, Michel Termanini, Amid Mahajna (Yaser Hamed Mayor 45’), Samer Jondi (Camilo Saldaña 37’ ); Mohammed Rashid, Odai Kharoub, Moustafa Zeidan (Mahmoud Abu Warda 37’); Alaa Aldeen Hassan (Zaid Qunbar 80’), Oday Dabbagh (Omar Faraj 69’), Wessam Abou Ali
Cautions: Amid Mahajna 12’, Michel Termanini 45’, Yaser Hamed Mayor 70’
Goals: Aymen Hussein 31’ (IRQ)
Recap: Makram Daboub rang in the changes to make up for several absences for Palestine while his opposite number, Jesus Casas was boosted by the 11th hour recovery of Aymen Hussein.
Basra International Stadium played host to the Palestinian national team for the second time in six years. Al-Fida’i’s latest match against the Lions of Mesopotamia was the 18th edition of the derby and the fifth hosted on Iraqi soil. The vaunted cauldron of the stadium nicknamed the Palm’s Trunk was somewhat overstated with an attendance of just under 45,000 leaving 20,000 seats empty.
Iraq controlled proceedings from kickoff and Palestine struggled to get a foot in the game. The 4-4-2 Makram Daboub favoured in the last three games looked to be incorrectly staffed with Moustafa Zeidan handed his first start out of position on the right flank.
Aymne Hussein’s bullet header in the 23rd minute signalled the attacker’s intent but it went straight at Toufic Ali who was making his first start since March 2021. Eight minutes later Iraq had their goal and it was their talisman who bodied an already hobbled Samer Jondi to win a diagonal ball before bamboozling Mohammed Rashid and Amid Mahajna. His low shot evaded Toufic Ali and while it was a moment of genius many Palestine fans will rue the fact that neither Rami Hamadi nor Amr Kaddoura were wearing the gloves today.
For all of Iraq’s dominance in possession (79% at the end of the first half they rarely threatened Palestine’s goal). The problem for Palestine was their inability to transition out of defence which isolated their two best players- Oday Dabbagh and Wessam Abou Ali. To remedy this Makram Daboub went to his bench employing the correct personnel on the right flank- Mahmoud Abu Warda- in the place of Moustafa Zeidan. The Rosenberg midfielder had a meagre 10 touches in 37 minutes. Palestine fans will be hoping that his talents can be harnessed and showcased in the correct way in the near future.
Palestine’s problems were exacerbated in the first half by a pair of soft yellow cards. The first of which will cost Amid Mahajna the game against Kuwait. The other cautions were handed out to the other centre backs meaning they will have to be on their best behaviour on Tuesday.
Palestine did improve in the second half and in the final 15 minutes there was a concerted push to land an equaliser. It nearly happened on Palestine’s first corner of the game. Mahmoud Abu Warda’s excellent delivery found Wessam Abou Ali whose towering header met the ball and headed it goalwards only for Jalal Hassan to smother the ball on the line.
A narrow loss to Iraq in Basra is by no means a bad result and Palestine can take stock from the fact that a lot went wrong but were still in the game until the very end. The two hardest matches on the schedule are in the books but the team must now start racking up wins before the rest of the pack starts to pull away.
What I liked: The Third Round of World Cup qualification in Asia is a war of attrition. If you are going to lose- you must avoid getting blown out. Palestine did just that in a match that did not feature Palestine’s leading chance creator (Tamer Seyam- 15 career assists), best midfielder (Ataa Jaber), and two best goalkeepers. The spirit shown in the final 15 minutes was commendable and Palestine will need to draw on that in the final 7 games of qualifying especially the four games against their direct competition for the playoff spots (Kuwait and Oman).
What I didn’t like: I understand the defensive merits of a 4-4-2 and we did see Iraq neutralised effectively for long stretches today. That said, if you are going to play this way you must employ the correct personnel. Zeidan is not a winger. He is custom made for a 4-3-3. If Daboub wanted to accommodate Zeidan he needed to change the shape of the team which he could have done with the same names in the starting lineup.
Referee: In general officiating in Asia leaves a lot to be desired. The only thing you ask for is consistency. Faghani was harsh in the first game against Korea but you knew that any form of protest was going to yield a yellow card. Adel Al Naqbi today let Iraq persistently foul Wessam Abou Ali but cards for the slightest of infractions.
Jersey Watch: Palestine debuted their new red kits from Kelme. In my humble opinion this is the best red jersey Palestine has ever worn since making the unfortunate decision to ditch their green jerseys when Jirbril Rajoub took the helm.
What’s Next: Palestine heads to Doha to play host to Kuwait at the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium on Tuesday, October 15th. Kickoff is set for 19:00 Jerusalem time.
