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A much rumored move was made official on Tuesday morning during Jibril Rajoub’s impromptu press conference.
After more than three years as national team manager, Makram Daboub will no longer lead Palestine. The Tunisian tactician departs with 32 official matches contested to his name and a record of 11W-8D-13L.
Before officially taking the helm in April 2021, Makram Daboub won the 2020 Bangabandhu Gold Cup with the B-team recording four wins over Sri Lanka, Seychelles, Bangladesh, and Burundi.
Recency bias will associate Daboub with his inability to register a single win in Round Three of World Cup qualification through six matches. It should be noted however that Daboub achieved what no other Palestine manager had before him.
Not only did the Tunisian lead Palestine to the knockout stages of the 2023 Asian Cup and to the final group stage of Asian World Cup qualifying he did so under extremely trying circumstances with the local leagues suspended for the final 13 months of his tenure due to the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
His eight wins in competitive fixtures are joint highest in national team history and a very respectable 1.76 points per game across the 21 competitive fixtures. He also handed debuts to 35 new players- accounting for 15% of all capped players in national team history dating back to 1998.
An Ultimatum
There were conflicting reports surrounding whether or not Makram Daboub was sacked. PFA President Jibril Rajoub did nothing to clarify those rumours mentioning that he had given the coaching staff a must-win ultimatum against Oman and then saying he would “not allow anyone to say we fired a Tunisian man.”
Things became even more opaque when Rajoub later stated in the press conference that “Makram is staying with us.”
Sources within the national team told Football Palestine that Rajoub had wanted to sack Daboub on the spot following the 1-0 loss in Muscat only to be restrained. His choice of interim manager, Technical Director Abdel Nasser Barakat, was also not keen on the idea which allowed Daboub an extra match in charge.
Following a spectacular 1-1 draw against Korea Republic there was speculation that Daboub might be retained. In the end, a face saving resignation was agreed upon.
New Staff
In many ways, the appointment of Ehab Abu Jazar should not come as a surprise. The PFA was never going to hire a foreign coach and with the stated intent of hiring a Palestinian manager (mentioned more than once during today’s press conference) Abu Jazar was the clear front runner.
The other candidates were unlikely to accept the overtures of the Palestine Football Association without their demands being met. That includes fan-favourite and current Technical Director Abdel Nasser Barakat who turned down the role when Makram Daboub was appointed in 2021.
Jibril Rajoub let slip that the trio were only informed that they would be appointed last night. The promotional photo put out by the PFA shows them in the same clothes they were wearing today.
In terms of experience, Ehab Abu Jazar will have a far more capable staff than his predecessor who was left to rely on Fahed Attal who had never coached before and came to be reviled by the players in spite of his national team career.
The hope in the short term is that a new voice with new ideas might be able to get more out of the side over the next four games. Palestine is not eliminated but will need to collect at least one win in March before meeting Kuwait and Oman in two must win games in June.
In the long term, Ehab Abu Jazar and his assistant Firas Abu Radwan will be counted on to rejuvenate the side with their former charges from the U23 and U20 team.
Abu Radwan had coached Jabal Al-Mukaber, Shabab Al-Samu’, and Ahli Al-Khaleel before taking over the U20 role this year.
Mohammed Dajani brings a breath of fresh air given his vast experience in spite of his relatively young age. Dajani spent the last year in charge of Football Performance at Ajax and had spent six years at Norwegian club Valerenga.
