Despite their early
exit from the preliminary qualifying round for 2002 FIFA World Cup
Korea/Japan, Palestine's two 1-0 victories over Hong Kong and Malaysia,
which helped the young team finish second behind Qatar in preliminary
Group C, impressed Asia watchers. Their hard play and stubborn performance
showed that they played for not only good results, but honour and
passion.
A liitle while ago,
it was the make-up of the team that aroused most curiosity. Under
their Chilean coach Nicola Hadwa Shahwan, a large portion of the team
were those players of Palestine origin who play in neighbouring Arab
nations and Chile. The key midfielder Roberto Beshe and fullback Roberto
Adawe come from Santiago-based side Palestino, Shaker Suleiman Asad
formerly played in Major League Soccer, while Pablo Abdullah and Luis
Al Masry also played in Chile with Cobreloa and Universidad De Chile.
Palestine will not
play any home matches in Palestine.
Facts
The national team of modern Palestine, an Arab state, has no connection with
the two Jewish teams which took part in the preliminaries for the FIFA
World Cup"! in 1934 and 1938 under the name Palestine.
Palestine first entered
qualifying for the 2002 tournament and made a surprising impact. Victories
over Hong Kong and Malaysia saw them finish second in their group
behind Qatar.
Their greatest victory
to date came in 2000 with a 2-0 triumph over Pakistan. Unfortunately,
their heaviest defeat came in the same year in qualifying for the
Asia Cup when they lost 5-1 at home to Jordan.
