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Palestine Starting XI (4-3-3): Rami Hamadi; Musab Al-Battat, Michel Termanini, Mohammed Saleh, Mohammed Khalil (Wajdi Nabhan 46’); Amid Mahajneh (Mohammed Rashid 46’), Odai Kharoub, Ataa Jaber (Moustafa Zeidan 89’); Mahmoud Abu Warda (Zaid Qunbar 66’), Oday Dabbagh, Wessam Abou Ali
Cautions: Mohammed Rashid 90+7’
Goals: None
Recap: Palestine and Oman met on a steamy night in Muscat with the dawning realisation that anything less than three points would damage hopes of playing at the World Cup in 2026.
Oman have had a tumultuous 2024 having cycled through three coaches in qualification already. Palestine had hoped that the tumult would play in their favour especially when compounded with the losses of Oman’s fullbacks Al-Harthi and Bousaidi in addition to livewire Saleh Yahyaei.
The opening twenty minutes was a cagey affair with neither team really offering much in terms of attacking ideas. A foreboding harbinger of things to come occurred in the seventh minute when Mohammed Saleh unnecessarily dawled on the ball near the touch line, lost possession and gifted the hosts a dangerous looking counter attack. Jameel Al-Yahmadi’s attacking intent was wasted by Nasser Al-Rawahi who fired wide of Rami Hamadi’s goal.
Palestine did settle into the match as the first half wore on and looked the likelier of the two sides to grab an opening goal. A signature cross from Musab Al-Battat found the head of Wessam Abou Ali only for the Al-Ahly striker to be denied by Ibrahim Al-Mukhaini.
Three minutes later, Mahmoud Abu Warda found Wessam Abou Ali only for the striker to shoot the ball wide of a goal at his mercy.
At half time, Palestine had the goal scoring threat with Oman retaining over 60 percent possession.
Both teams ratcheted up the pressure in the second half. Palestine once again had the better of the chances but Oman’s speed on the counter was always present. Even though Al-Mukhaini had to deny Zaid Qunbar in the 70th minute it looked that Palestine was once again not going to find a breakthrough.
Things were not helped by the fact that Oman manager was tinkering and bringing on attacking players while Daboub was content to stay the course- in spite of some game changing options on the bench.
Rashid Jaber’s proactiveness was rewarded in the 83rd minute. Oman’s counter caught Mohammed Saleh woefully out of position and substitute Issam Al-Sabhi sprinted from midfield straight through on Palestine’s goal. While Rami Hamadi did well to pull off the initial save he could do nothing to stop Muhsen Al-Ghassani from slotting home the winner.
Palestine’s final push was aided by the entry of Moustafa Zeidan but time ran out before Palestine could find an equaliser. The sense now is that time is about to run out on Palestine’s World Cup hopes.
What I liked: Jonathan was not fielded. If Palestine are not going to qualify for Round 4 and make a possible World Cup finals appearance then the focus must shift towards the future. That means the Arab Cup next year and the Asian Cup in January 2027. The average age of this squad is 27- tonight’s lineup was 28.9.
The subs that came on were 29, 23, 21, and 26 respectively. I am not saying that all players over the age of 30 need to be cleared immediately but it might be time to give the new generation a chance.
What I didn’t like: Sitting on game changing substitutes. If Abu Warda is not injured do we even see a change in the 66th minute? Palestine have depth now and Makram Daboub insists on sticking with Plan A instead of shuffling the deck to gain an advantage.
It has started to become all a little too predictable. Chance creation comes from crosses sent in by Musab Al-Battat and Tamer Seyam or whomever is on the left wing. It is the same pattern over and over. So much so that Daboub seems reluctant to change the personnel and make the tough decisions. Oman were missing both their starting fullbacks but Daboub did very little to destabilise the back line.
Palestine got on just fine against Korea without Mohammed Saleh. Why is he back when he took a vacation from football for a year and then dodged national team camps not once- but twice!
Yaser Hamed got a lot of grief for the Iran game but if you get pantsed by Iran that is still top class opposition. Mohammed Saleh had to be subbed off vs. Bangladesh he was such a liability- there were times in the decisive Lebanon game where your heart skipped a beat and against Kuwait as well. The signs were there that he needed to be dropped yet we persisted with Mohammed Saleh, with the 4-4-2, with Plan A until we ran out of time to react to going a goal down.
Refereeing: Amid Mahajneh got elbowed in the face and needed stitches but Ali Fawwaz escaped with just a yellow. The Chinese referee also whistled at the stroke of the six minutes in spite of Palestine being in the middle of the attack close to Oman’s goal.
Omani Fans: A Tifo of a Palestinian flag was unveiled before kickoff which can be added to the list of classy acts by fans of Al-Ahmar. The best fanbase in West Asia bar none.
Elsewhere in Group B: Iraq and Jordan played out a scoreless draw in Basra- both sides are on eight points. Korea beat Kuwait away 3-1 to increase their point haul to 13 from 15. Palestine remain rooted to the bottom of the table on two points, one back of Kuwait, and four points back of Oman.
What’s Next: Palestine travels to Amman to take on Korea Republic on Tuesday, November 19th. Kickoff is set for 16:00 Jerusalem Time
