Moatasem Abdullah (Dubai)
Our first national football team is preparing to take part in the first confrontation in the “Asia Cup” tournaments, when it meets Palestine on Thursday, in the second round of the third group competitions, which will also witness a confrontation between Hong Kong and Iran on Friday.
The anticipated match is the first in the history of the two teams’ confrontations in the Asian Cup, and the sixth overall, as our team, which beat Hong Kong 3-1 in the first round, will play in the Asian finals for the 11th time in its history, while the Palestine team, which lost its first match, will play. Against Iran 1-4, the third participation in a row after the “2015 and 2019 versions.”
“Al-Abyad” excels in confrontations against Palestine, despite the negative start, losing in the first match 0-1 within the Arab Games in August 1999, before a 1-1 draw in October 2009, in the first international friendly match.
“Al-Abyad” celebrated its first victory against Palestine 3-0 in a friendly match in February 2012, before the two teams met in two matches in a row, in the joint qualifiers for the 2019 Asian Cup finals and the 2022 World Cup.
The result of the goalless draw dominated the historic confrontation between the two teams, at Faisal Al-Husseini Stadium in Jerusalem, which was held in September 2015, in the fourth round of Group A, and it was the first “official match” for an Arab team in the “World Cup Qualifiers” that was held in Palestine, before it achieved “ Al-Abyad won 2-0 in the return match, in the “ninth round”, at Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
In the awaited confrontation, Al-Abyad’s desire for a second successive victory in the third group campaign clashes with the ambitions of Palestine, which in turn is looking for its first victory in the Asian Cup, after 7 matches played, drawing two matches and losing 6 matches, scoring only two goals, and conceding 18 goals.
Elected confrontations
UAE – Palestine 0-1 “Arab Games” August 1999
UAE – Palestine 1-1 “International Friendly” October 2009
UAE – Palestine 3-0 “International Friendly” February 2012
UAE – Palestine 0-0 “Joint Qualifiers” September 2015
UAE – Palestine 2-0 “Joint Qualifiers” March 2016
#Asian #dialogue #AlAbyad #Palestine
