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What: 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier
When: Thursday, March 21st 2024
Where: Jaber Al-Ahmed Stadium, Kuwait City, Kuwait
Kickoff: 20:30 Jerusalem Time
TV: Our Substack subscribers will receive an email with a link to a live stream on the day of the game. Subscribe here.
Previous Encounters:
05.09.2021 // Palestine 2:0 Bangladesh (Friendly)
15.01.2020 // Bangladesh 0:2 Palestine (Friendly)
10.10.2018 // Bangladesh 0:2 Palestine (Friendly)
02.03.2013 // Palestine 1:0 Bangladesh (2014 Challenge Cup qualifier)
21.03.2011 // Palestine 2:0 Bangladesh (2012 Challenge Cup qualifier)
04.05.2006 // Bangladesh 1:1 Palestine (2006 Challenge Cup)
A Return to Competitive Action
The moment the full-time whistle blew in Al-Bayt Stadium on January 29th, 2024 the attention of the national team and its fans turned to this game.
Of course, at the time we thought this game would be held in Dhaka but a request to the Bangladesh Football Federation was accepted and the home games were switched. As such, Palestine will avoid having to crisscross half the continent in the five days between the two games against Bangladesh.
While Al-Fida’i would have wanted their run at the 2023 Asian Cup to last a little longer the big prize on offer is World Cup qualification. 11 teams in Asia have already been eliminated and only 36 remain. Of these 36 half will fall by the wayside come June 11th with the top two teams in each group advancing to the expanded Third Round of World Cup qualification.
Eight or nine teams from Asia will qualify to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Should Palestine advance to the Third Round their chances at qualifying would be 47% and given that Round Three Participants from the 2022 cycle seem to be in decline or stagnant (See: Lebanon, Vietnam, Oman, China, Syria, and UAE) then why should Palestine not dream of a World Cup debut?
The team will need to be wary of underestimating the opposition. Bangladesh already threw a spanner into Lebanon’s campaign by clawing a point from their encounter in November. Any realistic scenario for progression involves Palestine taking the full six points on offer starting with three on Thursday night.
Absences
This was meant to be the window where Wessam Abou Ali would make his long awaited debut. The former Denmark youth international has hit the ground running in Cairo with Al-Ahly but two hamstring pulls in the space of as many months means he will have to wait until June for his Palestine debut.
Tamer Seyam and Ataa Jaber stayed in Qatar to continue treatment on two identical Achilles injuries. Neither have played a game since the Asian Cup meaning it will be left to other players in the squad to cover for them until the June window.
Goalkeeper Amr Kaddoura might have been in line to play one of the games vs. Bangladesh but he has pulled out because his wife is expecting the couple’s first child. The only reserve goalkeeper that keeps his place from the Asian Cup is Baraa Kharoub- 18 year old Mahdi Issa will serve as the third choice in lieu of Naim Abu Aker.
Bangladesh Looking to Play Spoiler
Although it is still a mathematical possibility, Bangladesh have little chance of navigating a path out of the group. The team led by Javier Cabrera have not let a disastrous start to Round 2 deter them, though. After losing 7-0 to Australia in Sydney the team dusted itself off and torpedoed Lebanon’s campaign by drawing 1-1.
As it stands now, Bangladesh are only a point out of second place. There is all to play for but they will need to find a way to replicate their home form in Kuwait. Bangladesh have never beaten Palestine nor kept a clean sheet against them. The last three encounters over the past five and a half years ended in weakened Palestine sides registering routine 2-0 victories- two of which were in Bangladesh.
In the lead up to the March window, Bangladesh camped in Al-Ta’if, Saudi Arabia where they played a pair of closed door friendlies against Sudan. The first match ended in a 0-0 draw but they succumbed to a 3-0 loss in the second encounter. Manager Javier Cabrera said that the team “struggled to cope with the physical element of the game” and the pressure his defense was put under.
The Bengal Tigers will be further hindered in their quest to spring an upset by two vital absences. Defender Tariq Kazi and 18 year old phenom Sheikh Morsalin were not called up due to injury.
4-4-2 or 4-3-3?
The last time these two teams met, Makram Daboub took it as an opportunity to experiment and deployed Palestine in a 3-4-3 formation for the first time. There is little chance of that happening on Thursday night but what we are likely to see the 4-4-2 make a comeback.
This is for several reasons, first Palestine will not be concerned with the midfield battle. Yes they will be outnumbered (Bangladesh plays 4-3-3) but the challenge for the team is to score early and kill the game. In that sense having two tall focal points of attack would help break down the Bangladeshi rearguard.
Furthermore, giving Bangladesh an opportunity to possess the ball might favor Palestine who could stretch the midfield in transition and expose Bangladesh on the counter.
As such, while there is a question of who plays alongside Michel Termanini in defence and in place of Ataa Jaber and Tamer Seyam.
Record Breaking Window?
Eighteen Years ago, in Bangladesh, Fahed Attal became Palestine’s top scorer in official matches sharing the pitch with the man he surpassed- Ziyad Al-Kord. Palestine’s eleven goal defeat of Guam featured six goals from Attal and a brace from Ziyad Al-Kord- his last goals with the national team.
Going into the following match Attal pulled away with a goal in a 4-0 rout of Cambodia to become the top scorer on 11 goals.
Attal would score again two days later in a 1-1 draw vs. 2006 AFC Challenge Cup hosts Bangaldesh. It would be the last goals he scored until 2012 which left his tally at 14 official goals and 16 in all competitions.
Tamer Seyam nearly equalized the official number, but was denied at the AFC Asian Cup; first by Khaled Eissa from the spot vs. UAE and then by the crossbar against Hong Kong.
Oday Dabbagh’s three goals in the same competition saw him pull even with Tamer Seyam. With 13 goals (14 overall) he stands as the third top scorer overall and only behind Fahed Attal for the official number. This could very well be the week an 18 year old record falls and just like that day in Dhaka 18 years ago the previous holder will be there to witness it.
