Australia no holiday trip for Palestinians

Little is expected from outsiders Palestine on their Asian Cup debut, but that doesn’t mean they will be treating their stay in Australia like a holiday.

The AFC Challenge Cup winners, ranked 115th in the world by FIFA, open their Group D campaign on Monday with the trickiest of tasks against holders Japan but are determined to put on a show in Asia’s biggest tournament.

“We have come here to say to all the people that there’s a country called Palestine, and we will represent the Palestinian people here,” goalkeeper Ramzi Saleh told reporters on Sunday.

“We have come to Australia for the first time and we are the only team at this tournament that is under occupation. We are proud to be here.”

“Many people are saying that we are tourists in this competition. But we have come here to fight and to get to the second round. Nothing is impossible in football and anything can happen on the pitch.”

Palestine’s hopes of points in Australia have been hindered by numerous challenges.

Travel at home is one of the biggest issues, with movement heavily restricted in Palestine, locked in a bloody conflict with Israel for decades.

Defender Haytham Theeb is one of those who was unable to make the trip Down Under.

Head coach Ahmed Al Hassan, who stepped in after AFC Challenge Cup winning coach Jamal Mahmoud quit for personal reasons, bemoaned the situation.

“All the players have had a lot of difficulties to make the selection because there are many from Gaza, from the West Bank and also outside Palestine,” the former goalkeeper explained. “It’s difficult to gather them in the same place.

“We always have to gather outside Palestine, so this situation is different than for any other team in the world.

“There are a lot of players outside Palestine. They have no opportunity to go inside Palestine and it’s very difficult for us. We gather all the players outside and that’s a negative point for us, but we fight to always be together like a team.”

Al Hassan was hoping that fighting spirit, and the element of surprise, could result in a shock for Japan before they round of their Group D campaign against West Asian rivals Jordan and Iraq.

“Japan don’t know anything about my team because we are new in this competition. Only in the AFC Challenge Cup they saw us, but that’s not enough,” the coach said.

“I’m sure, they know my team will fight and play with spirit against them tomorrow. There are secrets in football, but I have a strategy to show ourselves at a good level.”