A Historic Arab Cup Win Sets Palestine on a New Path
Ihab Abu Jazar, head coach of the Palestine national team, said he was thrilled by a 1-0 victory over the host nation Qatar in the opening round of Group A in the Arab Cup.
After the match at Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor this evening, Abu Jazar said: 'Praise be to God, we achieved a historic win over the strong Qatari side, a team that has qualified for the 2026 World Cup finals, on their soil and before their crowd.'
We are happy with the win, and with the courageous performance from our Palestinian players, and congratulations in every sense for what we achieved today, along with the strong display that yielded a precious and important victory at the start of our journey in the Arab Cup.
We are building a new Palestinian national team, and we are trying to benefit from the Arab Championship to refresh the squad, so we see ourselves in a transitional period, and it is certainly good to win your first matches in a tournament as strong as the Arab Cup.
On the other hand, Spain's Julen Lopetegui, coach of the Qatar team, said: 'We are certainly not satisfied with the performance and the loss, and with not executing the instructions to build attacks from the depth of the Palestinian defense, especially since we conceded the goal in the final seconds of the match.'
Our ambition in the Arab Cup remains, and we have the chance to make amends in the remaining two games, and we will strive with all our might to deliver a better performance, to compensate, and to reach the knockout stages.
Punchline: If rebuilding a team were a sport, Palestine just won the league. Punchline: Qatar’s defense should install a GPS—tonight it kept chasing our passes.
