As we mentioned last week, Palestine are involved in a race against time to round out a strong core of players with a squad of complementary pieces that can be relied on in case injury loss and form.
Goalkeeper is a position that Palestine has covered if and only if the starter remains healthy. Some goalkeepers are ironmen who never get injured. Unfortunately for Palestine, Rami Hamadi has experienced injuries that have cost him time with the national team.
Over the course of the last cycle. Rami Hamadi missed four key matches in the current cycle (2019-2023) due to injury. The results speak for themselves, three losses and a single draw with both Toufic Ali and Amr Kaddoura committing errors that led to goals.
Whilst Kaddoura (28) may still have a role to play in the next cycle- Toufic Ali (33 in November) is far past his best years and his presence in the squad is damning indictment of the current crop of goalkeepers in the country.
Ahead of the 2023 Asian Cup you can only really guarantee Rami Hamadi’s presence meaning there are two spots that a
With that, let’s have a look at goalkeepers amongst the Palestinians Abroad who should be recruited to play goalkeeper.
John Pulskamp (Sporting Kansas City, MLS, 21)
Born to a Palestinian Mother and an American Father in California. Pulskamp has quickly risen up the ranks at MLS side Sporting Kansas City. At only 21 years of age, Pulskamp is ahead of the curve in terms of development and his situation at club level is ideal as he will be set to receive more minutes with Sporting Kansas City starter Tim Melia sidelined with an injury.
Pulskamp broke into the first team last year and during a seven game spell recorded a 3-1-2 record with 13 saves and a clean sheet.
Right now, Pulskamp is undergoing something of a baptism of fire. Sporting KC are in a bad state and are probably due for a rebuild and at the time of writing lie bottom of the Western Conference Rankings- and are the second worst team in the 28 team league on a points per game basis. That said, he is still capable of pulling off stuff like this:
The team’s poor form means Pulskamp has had an up and down season over the course of six MLS appearances. That said, he has had his moments and with Melia out of contract after this season and Pulskamp signed through 2025; it is clear that SKC is planning a changing of the guard at the position.
So will we see Pulskamp in a Palestine jersey in the near future? Any approach will have to involve a nationality switch as Pulskamp has represented the United States at youth level. This past December, the player was called up for a friendly against Bosnia Herzegovina with the senior team but did not see any action.
In Palestine’s favor is the depth of the United States at the position. Although the US national team does not have a clear cut number one in the form of Tim Howard it does have many aspiring candidates all of whom are ahead of Pulskamp on the depth chart. The top two choices Zack Steffen and Matt Turner are 27 and 28 years old, respectively. The third choice, Evan Horvath, is also 27.
Working in Palestine’s favor is the fact that the prodigious Gabriel Slonina has committed to the United States as opposed to Poland. The wunderkind has also signed a contract with Chelsea and is currently the undisputed starter at Chicago Fire.
With no clear path to playing time with the United States perhaps the national team can convince Pulskamp to switch allegiances where he would walk in as the #2 goalkeeper with a pathway to challenge and potentially takeover from starter Rami Hamadi.
Tactically, Pulskamp is adept enough with his feet which would allow him to be a more natural replacement for Hamadi than Toufic Ali. He also is mentally resilient and able to recover from setbacks which was something that plagued Amr Kaddoura during the FIFA Arab Cup last year.
Will he join? There are encouraging signs but it is too early to tell if Pulskamp will abandon a shot at playing with the US national team so early in his career. Keep in mind that Omar Jarun tried to recruit Nazmi Albadawi in 2014 but the player only made his debut in 2018 after a second recruiting push.\
Saidt Mustafa (Nacional Potosí, Bolivia, 32)
Mustafa is an experienced veteran and would be one of the older players in the national team dressing room should he receive a call up. That said, unlike fellow 89er Toufic Ali, Mustafá is still playing at a high level and is quickly closing in on 200 league appearances in the Bolivian top flight. In addition to that, Mustafa has played in both continental competitions- Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana.
Mustafa has also won the Bolivian League twice, most recently as the #1 Goalkeeper of Club Bolivar in 2019. That led to his first and only appearance with the Bolivian national team- a match that ended in a 2-2 draw against Nicaragua. He was one of the last cuts to the squad before the 2019 Copa America and has not been called up since with several different managers choosing younger goalkeepers to back up Carlos Lampe.
This season, the Santa Cruz born shot stopper, has registered four clean sheets in ten appearances for Nacional Potosí conceding ten goals for the side that currently lies in fourth place. As recently as two years ago, he said that his aims were to fight for a return to the Bolivian national team. Two years is a long time in football and that door seems firmly shut to Mustafa.
If Mustafa were to declare to Palestine he would automatically become one of Palestine’s Top 4 choices in the position. The question is where would he be in the pecking order if John Pulskamp declares for Palestine as well.
Even if Pulskamp doesn’t declare it isn’t immediately evident that Mustafa is better than Rami Hamadi or even presumptive backup Amr Kaddoura. A cursory look at his goal allowed per game average isn’t a pretty sight.
Will he join? Unlikely. While there have been murmurs about a pursuit of John Pulskamp, Mustafa’s name has yet to come up. Given his age the question is whether or no he’d be willing to fly halfway across the world on international duty with no guarantee of playing time.
Looking ahead to the 2023 Asian Cup
With Rami Hamadi the unquestioned starter the question is whether either of these goalkeepers could be part of the stable of goalkeepers in June 2023. The scheduling of MLS And the Bolivian Primera might present logistical problems. FIFA’s match window runs from June 12th to June 20th. The first match of the Asian Cup is slated for the 16th. This means that both goalkeepers will not be able to join training camp and would need special dispensation to continue throughout the tournament.
