Palestine’s preparations for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup will continue along with two friendlies slated for the month of August.
The first, a friendly match against Iraq, will commemorate the official reopening of the Faisal Al-Husseini Stadium. The national stadium underwent a complete renovation. All 12,500 seats have been replaced and instead of a Romanian motif of blue, red, and yellow the stadium now stands out in brilliant red.
The west stand features Arabic script that reads Falasteen– Arabic for Palestine.
Palestine will face Iraq here on August 4th. The two sides met in Basra in May in a friendly match that ended 0-0. It was only the third time in 13 occasions Palestine managed to avoid defeat against the Lions of Mesopotamia and the first time they’ve held the Iraqis scoreless.
Palestine are undefeated in nine matches held on Palestinian soil dating back to 2008. Their record stands a 4-5-0 with a +25 goal difference.
On the 19th of August, Palestine will travel to Afghanistan in order to mark the latter’s independence day. It will be Afghanistan’s second home match in 41 years- they last hosted an official match five years ago- defeating Pakistan 3-0 in Kabul.
