Following a full slate of games in October that culminated in lifting the Bangabandhu Cup, Palestine will now turn their attention to their final phase of preparation for the upcoming Asian Cup.
With two of the four games in the Bangabandhu Cup falling in the FIFA window- Palestine were forced to turn down an invite from Bahrain to play a friendly in Manama.
Bahrain secured Myanmar as a late replacement for Palestine.
The PFA has confirmed that the senior national team will play two away matches in November- facing Pakistan in Lahore on the 15th and China in Hangzhou on the 20th.
Palestine have played 10 friendlies to date and the additional two encounters will take the number to 12- the highest number of friendlies Palestine has played in a calendar year.
After giving a good amount of game time to many domestic based players this month- next month presents the last chance for the players based abroad to stake a claim to a spot in the Asian Cup squad.
With a number of Palestinian players involved in crunch club matches in October- the time off should help them maintain rhythm with their clubs. Yashir Islame is gunning for promotion with Coquimbo Unido, Alexis Norambuena is trying to help Melipilla sneak into the promotion playoffs, while Ahmad Awad is fighting to keep Dalkurd in the Allsvenskan.
Over in Egypt, Mahmoud Wadi is currently preparing for a crucial Confederations Cup semifinal against Vita Club in Congo.
With these commitments coming to a close over the next couple of weeks; the foreign based contingent will be able to focus on the national team from November onwards. Those in leagues that wind down in November (Chile, Sweden) will be able to commit to the pre-Asian Cup camp (due to start on December 2nd) from the start.
