After much speculation and fanfare, Makram Dabboub finally revealed his Asian Cup qualifying squad. The national team is due to play Mongolia, Yemen, and Philippines in the space of one week between June 8th and June 14th. Before flying to Mongolia to play these matches the national team will camp in Istanbul, Turkey.
The PFA made an attempt to cast a wide net and recruit new players for the upcoming qualifiers but were left disappointed as the jewel of this recruiting class, Samir Maarouf, had to pull out due to injury. The 21 year old midfielder broke into BK Hacken’s first team last season and is one of the few Palestinian players currently playing in the top tier in Europe. Shehab Qombor has also pulled out most likely as a result of his continued fear of flying.
In spite of rumors, there was no call up for Sporting Kansas City’s #2 Goalkeeper John Pulskamp or AK Berliner 1907’s Nader El-Jindaoui. The latter’s club teammate Yousef Emghames has also been excluded from the Asian Cup qualifying squad.
FIFA Arab Cup squad turnover
Several players have lost their spot following an underwhelming showing in Qatar. Most notably, the backup goalkeepers Amr Kaddoura and Abdallah Shaqfa have been excluded in addition to all local players that don’t play for AFC Cup participants Shabab Al-Khaleel and Hilal Al-Quds.
As such, Ahmed Qatmish, Abdelhamid Abuhabib, Ali Adwi, Layth Kharoub, and Reebal Dahamshe have all lost their spots. There is also no room for Shabab Al-Khaleel’s Musa Saleem.
Veteran Palestinians Abroad miss out
Mahmoud Eid who moved to the Thai first tier following the FIFA Arab Cup has also been excluded from the squad. There is also no room for Yashir Islame in spite of his solid season with Khon Kaen in Thailand and his proven goal scoring ability at the national team level (7 goals in 19 caps). Reading between the lines, there seems to be a concerted effort to shift towards a younger core of players ahead of next summer’s Asian Cup. That said, the presence of veterans such as Abdelatif Bahdari, Toufic Ali, and Mohammed Darweesh runs counter to that logic.
The aim for Palestine, at this point in time is to add to a core of players who are experienced and in their prime. The likes of Rami Hamadi, Musab Al-Battat, Mohammed Rashid, and Tamer Seyam as well as younger players like Yaser Hamed Mayor and Oday Dabbagh are surefire starters. Finding the complementary pieces to that puzzle will be top priority for Makram Dabboub as he aims to take Palestine to their third straight Asian Cup Finals.
Jaber Bros continue to be ignored
Perhaps most frustratingly the tiff between the PFA and Abdallah Jaber (56 caps- appearances in two Asian Cup finals) continues with no sign of abatement. This disagreement is now at least part of the reason his younger brother, Mahmoud Jaber, isn’t getting a shot with the national team. Football Palestine asked the PFA in 2021 if there was a policy of not calling up players who play in the Israeli Leagues but they denied that this was the case.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The biggest act of self sabotage is ignoring Abdallah Jaber AND also ignoring his brother Mahmoud who racked up 1,352 minutes in 31 games across Europa League, Conference League, League and Cup competitions registering three goals and six assists in a league winning campaign. <a href="http://t.co/4j1dixtv0S">pic.twitter.com/4j1dixtv0S</a></p>— FootballPalestine.com (@FutbolPalestine) <a href="http://twitter.com/FutbolPalestine/status/1529408011881656320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 25, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
New Faces
There are first time call ups in this squad for Hilal Al-Quds’s left back Samer Jondi as well as a pair of Chilean based players- Joaquin Abdala (son of Edgardo Abdala) and ex-Palestino forward Nicolás Zedan.
There is also a triumphant return for Michel Termanini who had not played for the national team for nearly four years. The 24 year old will be in contention to replace Abdelatif Bahdari in the long term although the national team captain has been called up despite indifferent form with Shabab Al-Khaleel in the AFC Cup.
The full squad is as follows:
