Palestine exit from the Asian Cup after a round of 16 defeat against Qatar

The little “football fairytale” of the Palestine national team has come to an end. In the round of 16 of the Asian Cup, the outsider was eliminated against defending champion Qatar 1:2 (1:1) and narrowly missed another surprise: Palestine, which reached the knockout phase for the first time in its third participation in the tournament and the people in which had brought great joy to their war-torn homeland, initially led after a goal from Oday Dabbagh (37th).

But Qatar, host of the 2022 Winter World Cup and the current Asian Cup, turned the game around led by Akram Afif. The 27-year-old made it 1-1 through Hassan Al-Haydos (45th + 6th) and then scored the victory with a penalty kick (49th). Palestine has been a member of the world association FIFA since 1998, although the state is not recognized in many countries. In the group phase, the Palestinian selection won a game in the continental championship for the first time with a 3-0 win against Hong Kong.

While the Palestinian players were still trying to digest the loss, coach Makram Daboub spoke proudly of his “champions”. His players “gave everything despite the difficult circumstances,” said Daboub: “I couldn’t have asked more from my players, they have honored the football of Palestine.” Goalscorer Dabbagh and Co. “have big goals and ambitions,” said the Tunisian Daboub : “You are always proud to represent the Palestinian people.”

Alexander Davydov Published/Updated: Recommendations: 3 A comment from Christoph Becker Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 3 Published/Updated:

Jordan had previously reached the quarter-finals for the third time thanks to a spectacular comeback. The team beat Iraq 3-2 (1-0) – even though Jordan was 2-1 behind until injury time. Jordan celebrated twice in the final minutes thanks to goals from Yazan Al-Arab (90+5) and Nizar Al-Rashdan (90+7). Previously, Iraq had also come back around the Braunschweig professional Youssef Amyn, Saad Natiq (68th) and Ayman Hussein (76th) turned around the half-time deficit caused by Yazan Al-Naimat (45th + 1).

However, Hussein helped the Jordanians stay in the game: after his goal, he imitated the opponent’s goal celebration from the first half, saw his second yellow card for unsportsmanlike conduct and was thrown off the pitch (77th).