What had been dubbed earlier by this blog and other media as the Chechen national team is in fact Russian Premier league side Terek Grozny. The club which is based in Grozny, the war ravaged Chechen capital, is being hosted by Palestine this week.
The Palestinian media, led by PFA press releases, is portraying the match as an encounter between two stateless teams(treating Terek as the representative of Chechnya) and is giving the match a lot of attention as the second international hosted in Al-Ram, be it FIFA recognized or not.
Its tempting to see this match as nothing more than symbolic as it is not official as far as FIFA is concerned and its hard to get excited about a club playing a national team.
Then again how often does a top flight European team, or any foreign team for that matter, play a friendly in Palestine.
Which ever way you spin it, the match should be a good exhibition for the home fans as an ‘A’ squad is representing Palestine. A notable new call up on the list is Mohamed Shetreet who plays in one of France’s lower divisions.
