March 31, 2024: This Week in Palestinian Football
With Palestine one point away from Round Three of World Cup qualification we look at Five things needed to ensure the team's continued success
March is nearly in the books and the international break was a successful one for Palestine. Six points out six from Bangladesh has Palestine on the brink of qualifying to the Third Round of World Cup qualifying for the first time in their history.
Their march towards history has been assisted by Lebanon who have scored only a single goal over four games. Here is what the standings in Group I look like:
Palestine needs only a point to progress and that point can come in any number of ways. The easiest qualifying scenario would be to win or draw against Lebanon but Palestine can still qualify with two losses if Lebanon and Bangladesh fail to pick up two wins in June.
With eight or nine teams qualifying from Asia there is a reasonable chance Palestine could be amongst the qualifying field. Football Palestine looked at five things Palestine needs to do to ensure progression to Round Three and continued success from there on out.
1. Make sure Makram Daboub stays on
After Palestine secured progression to the knockout stages of the AFC Asian Cup the murmurs already started. One journalist at the Qatar pregame press conference if Daboub would consider becoming the new Tunisia manager.
“We welcome any opportunity to play friendlies.” deflected the tactician pretending not to have understood the question.
The first part of his answer was telling though “There is no contract between myself and the Palestine Football Association.”
Sources have confirmed to Football Palestine that the Tunisian has spurned offers to coach elsewhere, favouring instead to stay on an continue making history with Palestine.
Daboub has done what few Palestine managers have done before him- play on the front foot and take the game to stronger opponents. If Palestine wants to qualify for the World Cup in North America they will need to claim a couple of scalps and only a proactive approach will do that.
2. Find an alternative to the West Bank Premier League
Palestine’s progression over the past decade has been underpinned by an element that was not there for previous generations. Consistent league play. The WBPL (and Gaza League) might have its problems but it provided an assembly line of talent. When Palestine beat Hong Kong to qualify for the knockout stages of the AFC Asian Cup the starting lineup featured nine players produced in the Palestinian football ecosystem.
The past few months have seen scoreds of Palestinian players decamp to Libya. Their contracts are short term and it remains to be seen if key national team players will remain in North Africa past this summer.
With the war showing no signs of ending a return of league play- in the West Bank at least- remains highly unlikely. That means there has to be a concerted effort in getting players signed to long term deals abroad. In the long term this is not sustainable but it could actually raise the level of the players in the short term and provide a boost to the national team.
3. Continue to recruit dual nationals
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