A tournament held outside of the stipulated FIFA windows for friendlies will often result in experimental squads. After the announcements of Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan; Palestine manager Noureddine Ould Ali has announced the 23 man squad that will participate in the 2019 WAFF Championship.
Club commitments means the likes of professional players based in Chile, Egypt, Germany, Morocco, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States will not feature at this tournament.
A whopping 15 players in the current squad were not called up to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. Amr Kaddoura, Jaka Ihbeisheh, Daniel Kabir Mustafa, Tamer Salah, Mohammed Saleh, Alexis Norambuena, Musab Al-Battat, Pablo Tamburrini, Jonathana Cantillana, Tamer Seyam, Nazmi Albadawi, Khaled Salem, Mahmoud Wadi, Sameh Maraaba, Yashir Islame were omitted for various reasons.
Squad Turnover
For a contingent of players, the Asian Cup represented their last participation with the national team. Daniel Kabir Mustafa had been conspicuously absent for five years before appearing again- a knee problem hampered his comeback with the national team and at 35 his best years are behind him
The other players in the side that were over 30 have also been omitted- Tamer Salah (33), Alexis Norambuena (35), and Jaka Ihbeisheh (32). Only the latter has an outside chance of continuing his national team career given the fact that he plays in the first tier of a European League.
The Chilean based trio of Jonathan Cantillana and Pablo Tamburrini were some of the most underwhelming performers in the UAE and they’ll need to rediscover their form at club level in order to be called back in. For the third time in his career, Khaled Salem’s national team adventure is over and there will be few who will mourn that fact.
Amr Kaddoura, Tamer Seyam, Nazmi Albadawi, Yashir Islame, and Mahmoud Wadi were not available for selection due to club commitments.
Surprise Absences
New Faces
