Palestine national football team coach Makram Daboub said – today, Saturday – that his team is finding it difficult to maintain focus during its participation in the Asian Cup in the midst of the ongoing Israeli occupation aggression against the Gaza Strip, but he realizes that their participation in the tournament is an opportunity to remind the world that “Palestine exists.” “.
Palestinian football, whose national team is preparing to compete in the 2023 Asian Cup finals, is paying a heavy price for the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, where hundreds of players, athletes and their relatives were killed and stadiums were bombed.
All sports competitions and matches in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip have been suspended since the outbreak of war on the besieged Strip.
“Frankly, it is difficult to maintain focus because most of the time the players focus on following the news (of the war launched by Israel on Gaza) after or before training, and even on the bus while we are heading to training,” Daboub told reporters before the team’s opening match in the group stage against Iran tomorrow, Sunday. “.
🟨 #happening now | Makram Daboub, coach of the Palestine national team 🇵🇸 before facing Iran 🇮🇷 in the Asian Cup Qatar 2023 @afcasiancup: Many players were unable to join us due to the circumstances our country is experiencing pic.twitter.com/4qMupBAxxd
— beIN SPORTS News (@beINSPORTSNews) January 13, 2024
The Israeli occupation continued its bombing of the Gaza Strip – on Saturday – as the aggression approached its 100th day, leaving more than 24,000 martyrs, most of them children and women, without showing any signs that its end was near.
The occupation destroyed large parts of the coastal strip and caused severe damage to infrastructure, hospitals, and the homes of citizens, most of whom were left homeless.
Daboub added, “Everyone is focused on the news and what is happening, but even so… there is a message that we need to deliver to the entire world. We have a great responsibility as ambassadors for Palestinian football and Palestine.”
He concluded, “The Palestinian people deserve a better life and deserve freedom. During the matches, our presence and what we will present during the tournament must serve as a message to the whole world that Palestine exists.”
In turn, the leader of the “Fedayeen” team, Musab Al-Battat, said that the cessation of sporting activity in Gaza during the past three months had a negative impact on the players, who were forced to set up camps outside the region due to the bombing.
The Palestinian national team held its training camp in Algeria between the 12th and 22nd of last December in preparation for the Asian Cup.
Look
Musab Al-Battat, captain of the Palestine national team: Palestine players are part of the Palestinian cause and part of the people #ComeAsia | #AsiaCup2023 #Qatar2023 | #AsianCup2023 #Asia_Cup_Al-Kass_Channels #See_the_cup pic.twitter.com/HflKz41dPW– Al Kass Channels (@AlkassTVSports) January 13, 2024
Al-Battat hoped that their presence in the Asian Cup would convey a message to the world.
He said, “As Palestinian players, we have a message to deliver to the world, which is that the Palestinian team and the state are a country like all other countries and have the right to participate and be part of any tournament anywhere.”
He added, “We hope that all these circumstances will be a positive impetus for us as players to achieve the best result because our people truly deserve that and our fans deserve that.”
The Palestine national team hopes to change the stereotype that the “Fedayeen” left behind during its previous two participations in the Asian Football Cup.
The Asian Cup in Qatar is the third appearance of the Palestinian team in the tournament after its first participation in Australia in 2015, then it participated in the edition held in the Emirates 2019.
The Palestinian team will play in the third group, alongside three-time Asian champion Iran, the Emirates, and Hong Kong, in a task that will not be easy for coach Makram Dabboub’s teammates.
📊 – The history of the Palestinian national team in the Asian Nations ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/SeU6Fwikbw
– Which one? B18 (@Atmimy11) January 12, 2024
