The Palestinian team is no longer a fishbelly, with a number of naturalized players rising rapidly, it is not easy for the national football team to win
The national football team chose the relatively weak Myanmar team and the Palestinian team as their opponents in this month's warm-up matches, apparently aiming to regain confidence by pursuing a full victory. However, against the rapid rise of the Palestinian team in recent years and the support of a number of naturalized players, it is not easy for the national football team to win.
The Palestinian Football Association officially became one of the FIFA member associations in 1998. At that time, due to various objective factors, the level of Palestinian football was generally low in Asian football, and the Palestinian team could only participate in low-level competitions such as the AFC Challenge Cup. However, in the past 10 years, the Palestinian Football Association has been determined to reform, not only importing naturalized players from Europe and the Americas, but also hiring foreign coaches to coach its national team, thereby greatly improving the team's strength. Take the Palestinian team that drew away from China in 2018 as an example, and the head coach of the team at that time was Nurdin Ali from Algeria. During the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup, Palestine went unbeaten and defeated the Philippines in the final to reach the Asian Cup finals for the first time in history.
With the help of naturalized players, the Palestinian team also achieved a good record in the 2018 World Qualifiers, and even almost qualified for the round of 12. Of course, they also qualified for the 2019 Asian Cup finals. The data shows that Palestine had an impressive 12-game unbeaten run between 2016 and 2018, and the FIFA ranking reached an all-time high in February 2018 (73rd in the world). From this point of view, it is no accident that this team has been able to reach the Asian Cup finals for three consecutive times.
Although the Chinese team is playing at home again this time, the strength of the opponent Palestine cannot be underestimated. In March, Palestine played against Bahrain. The team had 6 naturalized players at that time: goalkeeper Kadula, defender Termanini, striker Maauff, central defender Hamid, midfielder Candilana and striker Zihader. In addition, in recent years, naturalized players from European and American countries such as striker Islami, Zedan, midfielder Abdullah, central defender Salaam, midfielder Rashid, and right-back Ed have also been selected for the Palestinian team.
What deserves the attention of the Chinese team is that the Palestinian team also has some players who play in the top leagues in Europe and the United States. For example, the 24-year-old striker Dabbah, who plays for Aluka in the Portuguese Premier League, is worth 1.5 million euros, making him the most expensive player in Palestine. Born in Sweden, Maalouf played for the Swedish Premier League side. In addition, Palestinian players have appeared in leagues in Sweden, Chile, Egypt, Thailand, Indonesia and even Israel. Thus, the rapid rise of the Palestinian forces is incomprehensible.
In the last two years, the Palestinian team has been in good form. During last year's Asian Cup qualifiers, they beat Yemen 5-0 and the Philippines 4-0. In March, they also beat Bahrain 2-1 in warm-up matches, snapping their fourth consecutive international match. In the Arab Cup at the end of 2021, Palestine drew 1-1 with Saudi Arabia's U23 Olympic team. During the 2019 Qatar World Qualifier Top 40, Palestine also beat Uzbekistan 2-0 and drew 0-0 with Saudi Arabia. In this way, it is not easy for the Chinese team to win this opponent.
Text/Beiqing Sports Xiao Zhao