Palestine landed in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday evening ahead of their final two World Cup qualifiers to be held in the Kingdom in June.
Palestine are all but mathematically eliminated from contention and will need a dozen or so results both in and out of their group to qualify as one of the five best runners up to Round 3. That said, the results against Singapore (June 3, 9 PM) and Yemen (June 15, 9 PM) will go along way in determining whether or not Palestine will need to participate in a playoff just to participate in 2023 Asian Cup qualification.
14 Players were part of the initial traveling contingent. With all but two plying their trade in local leagues. Like his predecessor, Makram Dabboub has chosen not to call up any Gaza based players. The squad also sees the inexplicable continued absence of left back Abdallah Jaber and no place for WBPL top scorer Shehab Qombor.
Ghanem Mahajneh returns to the squad after a five year absence and will presumably back up Rami Hamadi. Khaled Azzam, who was invited to the camp in Jericho has not been called up, which opens the possibility of a third goalkeeper being called up later this week.
Foreign based players and those currently playing in the AFC Cup for Merkaz Balata and Al-Am’ary are expected to further round the squad.
The squad thus far is as follows:
