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There was an eerie sense that Palestine’s Asian Games campaign was not destined for a historic finish. At the outset of the tournament the staff could not secure the services of a litany of players due to the tournament being outside of FIFA’s official calendar.
The squad that showed up in Hangzhou consisted of mere 17 players. Ehab Abu Jazzar could have called up 22. Zaid Qombor and Mahmoud Abu Warda pulled out with injury and there was a refusal from Jabal Al-Mukaber to release his teammates- Rami Hamadi and Walid Qombor- in the middle of their AFC Cup campaign.
Ahmed Daghim, Hamza Hussein, Omar El-Kayed, and Gibran Haj Yousef could not continue with their Olympic Teammates following their club’s refusal to grant a release. Adham Khwailed (Hilal Al-Quds) and Dawoud Iraqi (SV Babelsberg) were also invited but did not turn up.
In the end a 17 man squad featured one overage player- Mohammed Saleh- in an area where there was not a desperate need. A red card against Japan meant that he was not available for selection against Hong Kong. To make matters worse, the only striker in the squad- Khaled Al-Nabris- missed out on the starting lineup due to injury.
The game might have changed completely had Anas Bani Owda’s fourth minute effort crashed off the cross bar and in- instead of out. It might have changed had first half efforts from Sadeq Obeid, Ahmed Kullab, and Anas Bani Owda weren’t excellently saved by Tse Ka Wing.
In the end, Hong Kong did what Palestine could not. Score. Converting their lone chance of the game in the 47th minute vis-a-vis a Matty Orr finish.
With only three substitutes on the bench, Palestine had no real method of turning the game. A pair of legitimate penalty shouts- one for a foul and the other for a hand ball were waived away. Palestine poured forward and trotted out Mohammed Nazzal, Fadi Qatmish and even the injured Khaled Al-Nabris in search for an equalizer but it never came.
In the end, Palestine were left to rue poor planning which left them shorthanded at a critical juncture of the tournament.
