{"id":5436,"date":"2025-12-05T10:07:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T23:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/?p=5436"},"modified":"2026-09-25T12:05:30","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T02:35:30","slug":"in-palestines-defying-rise-every-win-is-a-message-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/ro\/in-palestines-defying-rise-every-win-is-a-message-home\/","title":{"rendered":"In Palestine\u2019s defying rise, every win is a message home"},"content":{"rendered":"

Palestine\u2019s football team has continued to defy the odds to deliver on the pitch, aiming to aid their people\u2019s adversity.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As soon as Qatari full-back Sultan Al-Brake\u2019s attempted clearance ended up in his own net, Mohammed Saleh tore away from his teammates as if propelled by something outside himself. He sprinted alone toward the corner of the pitch, fists clenched, chest puffed, roaring into the sea of Palestinian flags in the stands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The others caught him eventually, bundling him beneath a tangle of limbs, but it was his reaction that lingered: all fire and release, as though the imminent final whistle would open a crack in the world and, for a moment, he could breathe again. It was his flicked header that would eventually lead to Palestine\u2019s first win against hosts Qatar in over two decades, in latter\u2019s own backyard no less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For most teams and players, the eruption would have seemed outsized for a group-stage victory. For Saleh, the 31-year-old defender from Gaza, it felt like catharsis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was here in Qatar, almost two years ago, that emotions had spilled out in a different form for him. As soon as Palestine secured their first-ever win at the tournament, a 3-0 win over Hong Kong, and with it a spot in the knockouts of the AFC Asian Cup, Saleh broke down in tears, weeping uncontrollably under the floodlights. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Even victory and the historic moment could not shield him from the dread. He had been trying, and failing, to reach his family back home for days. His friends killed, bombs falling relentlessly on his people, Saleh could not hold it any longer: \u201cI hope they find out\u2026,\u201d Saleh later said, before shedding tears again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That duality of joy and anguish braided into something fierce has defined Palestine\u2019s football since Israel\u2019s attacks on Gaza started in October 2023, which has been declared a genocide by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and by multiple international genocide scholars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the team has defied odds, soaking up the off-the-pitch support to salvage results in clutch situations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since that historic night in Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium in early 2024, a lot has changed. Palestine have only continued to grow stronger, despite the bombings affecting every imaginable footballing factor.

They manoeuvred themselves to the edge of something unprecedented: a place in the final round of World Cup qualifying, holding South Korea twice, as well as a set of other gritty performances. They have found results that, on paper, they had no business finding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So when half-time of the qualifiers for the FIFA Arab Cup came against Libya, head coach Ihab Abu Jazar unleashed an impassioned speech to his player that has since become nothing short of a lore in a short few days. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201c45 minutes, don\u2019t forget who we play for. People in the tents are waiting for us, in Al-Quds\u2026 people who cannot find anything to eat. You are the ones who must bring them joy, so they might forget death, war, and destruction for half an hour.\u201d

– The Palestinian national team\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/of9xhsSWJ1<\/a><\/p>— Warfare Analysis (@warfareanalysis) December 2, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote>