Two weeks ahead of Palestine’s opening game at the AFC Asian Cup in Qatar, the team is struggling to focus as war rages on in Gaza, where thousands have been killed.
Some players have lost loved ones in Israel’s bombardment of the besieged territory in response to Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel.
Much of Gaza has been reduced to rubble, including stadiums, in air and artillery strikes and a ground offensive, and soccer fields have been used as makeshift graves for some of the dead as many cemeteries are either full or inaccessible.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“Everyone is glued to the news, before and after training, be it on the bus or at the hotel,” Palestine coach Makram Daboub said from Saudi Arabia where the players are training.
Qatar hosts the Asian Cup from Friday next week to Feb. 10, and Palestine are to play their opening game on Sunday next week against Iran.
The players have “a constant feeling of anxiety for their families,” Daboub, a former Tunisia coach and player, said by telephone.
The Palestinian Football Association had celebrated in June last year when the national team won — for the third time — a spot in the Asian cup, but with no end in sight to the Gaza war, the team feel crushed as they try to prepare for the upcoming competition.
“We have physical, technical and tactical problems due to the suspension of the tournament ... as well as psychological issues,” Daboub said.
Since the Oct. 7, soccer matches in the Gaza Strip and Israeli-occupied West Bank have been suspended.
Many players are struggling, particularly those such as Mahmoud Wadi and Mohammed Saleh who have family trapped in Gaza where their homes have been destroyed, Daboub said.
“They are suffering,” he said.
Others have relatives who have had to flee relentless Israeli bombardment in the north of the territory and seek safety in the south, “where conditions are difficult,” Daboub said.
Daboub said the team hopes to “qualify for the latter stages of the Asian Cup and show the honorable face of Palestinian football.”
Most importantly, the coach said, “raising the Palestinian flag” in international arenas “affirms Palestinian identity and shows that in Palestine people deserve freedom and a better life.”
Palestinian Football Federation president Jibril Rajub said the Gaza war has wreaked havoc on “sports and youth” movements.
“So far, more than 1,000 members of sports, youth and scout movements have been killed,” Rajub said.
He accused Israeli forces of “targeting Palestinian sports clubs ... in flagrant violation of the Olympic charter.”
The federation has sent letters to the International Olympic Committee and FIFA demanding an “urgent international probe into [Israeli’ occupation crimes against sports and athletes in Palestine.”
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