Palestine’s preparations for the 2021 FIFA Arab Cup will truly get underway next month. A series of friendlies will provide Al-Fida’i with their first test since romping to qualification with a 5-1 win over Comoros back in June.
The possibility of a series of matches was teased in July by PFA President Jibril Rajoub in an interview in July. Kyrgyzstan and Malaysia were the two names that were mentioned originally. Earlier in the week, the Kyrgyz FA confirmed that Palestine would line up against their national team at the Dolen Omurzakov Stadium.
The fixture against Malaysia, however, was chalked off due to the COVID-19 protocols surrounding travel into the country. There remains a possibility that the friendly could be played in October should the Football Association be able to arrange for a bio-bubble with the government authority.
In the meantime, Palestine will instead face Bangladesh in Kyrgyzstan on September 5th. The two sides have faced each other on five previous occasions; Palestine have won the last four matches and have never lost to the Bengal Tigers.
This will be the third time in three years the two sides have faced each other. Palestine emerged victorious in the 2018 Bangabadhu Gold Cup Semifinal thanks to goals from Mohammed Balah and Sameh Maraaba and won by the same scoreline in the 2020 edition with goals from Khaled Salem and Layth Kharoub.
