Palestine qualifies for Asian Cup knockout stage

Palestine’s national football team achieved a historic victory over Hong Kong yesterday, marking its inaugural qualification for the Asian Cup knockout stage.

Securing a 3-0 win over Hong Kong at the Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium in Doha, Qatar, Palestine advanced as one of the top four third-placed teams among the final 16 teams in the Asian Cup, as part of the qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.

According to Al Jazeera, Odai Al-Dabbagh scored Palestine’s first goal in the 12th minute. Zaid Al-Qanbar contributed the second goal in the 48th minute and Al-Dabbagh secured the third goal and his second of the match in the 60th minute.

Members of the Palestinian team and their support staff have experienced personal losses since Israel launched its ongoing military offensive against the Palestinians in Gaza, in which it has killed more than 26,000 Palestinians, most of them children and women, and wounded almost 65,000 others.

At least 10,000 are missing, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes. Civilian infrastructure has been targeted and destroyed by Israel, including hospitals, schools and places of worship, both Muslim and Christian. The players expressed their desire to bring solace to those enduring hardships back in their homeland.

The pre-match observance of a moment of silence for the victims was overrun by chants advocating for the liberation of Palestine, with shouts of “Free Palestine” echoing through the stadium.

Palestine coach Makram Daboub praised his players as “heroes” following the match, as he congratulated them for qualifying for the next round.

“Congratulations to the people of Palestine for qualifying into the next round. I want to express my gratitude to my players, they were heroes today,” Daboub said.

“With a strong team spirit, our ambition is to advance far in this tournament. Now, with nothing to lose, we will give our best. We have demonstrated hope and I believe we can maintain this focus for the upcoming matches.”

According to Palestine’s captain Musab Al-Battat, it was a performance that showed the world that his team is among the best in the continent. “We wanted to deliver a message to the world that we have a right to participate in every major football tournament, and not just for the sake of participation, but to show our skills.”

READ: Israel minister renews call for striking Gaza with ‘nuclear bomb’