Palestine will face the UAE as they look for their first victory in the Asian Cup on Thursday. The UAE and Iranians are equal atop the group after the UAE’s 3-1 victory over Hong Kong. The Knights lost their first game, 4-1, to Iran.
Preview (Palestine vs. United Arab Emirates)
Palestine suffered a crushing defeat in their match against Iran last weekend at Education City Stadium. Although it was only the second time this team had ever scored in the tournament’s group stage. It did take their winless streak to eight games across all competitions. Palestine has only scored one goal in their last five competitive games. They have not scored in either of their two 2026 World Cup qualifying matches thus far. If they hope to go past the group stage, they must enhance their offensive third quality.
They surrendered four goals in their opening encounter against Iran. It was more than they had given up in their whole group-stage campaign in 2019. They had kept two clean sheets and earned their two points in this competition four years prior. Despite their dismal performance before the competition, Makram Daboub’s team was anticipated to challenge for a spot in the round of sixteen as the third-highest seed in Group C (ranked 99th by FIFA). In their third consecutive Asian Cup, a loss to the UAE along with a win or draw by Iran against Hong Kong will eliminate their ambitions of going to the knockout stage.
This side has been in incredible form under Paulo Bento since July 2023, winning seven of their past eight games. Their lone loss came in a friendly match against Oman earlier this month (1-0). With just two goals conceded in their six prior games, they have never lost to Palestine this century. Their lone loss came at the 1999 Pan Arab Games (1-0).
Team News
With an unidentified injury, Ataa Jaber missed Palestine’s first match, and Mahdi Issa, Baraa Kharoub, and Samer Zubaida are still waiting for their maiden starts for the senior team. This past weekend, Shehab Qunbar made his debut for the national team, joining his brother Zaid Qunbar in the assault against Iran. In that match, Tamer Seyam scored the lone goal for Palestine—his 13th of the season—moving him up to second place all-time in the record books, one goal behind Ashraf Nu’man and Fahed Attal.
The only player from the UAE without a cap is Khaled Tawhid. Fabio Lima made his 25th appearance in their opening game. Khalifa Al Hammadi is just one cap short of 40. Ali Mabkhout, the record goalscorer, missed their game against Hong Kong and is currently two caps behind Ismail Al Hammadi and Abdulrahim Jumaa for fourth place all-time, with 114 caps. On Sunday, Sultan Adil scored his second goal for the national team and Yahya Al Ghassani also found the net, but Zayed Sultan’s first international goal proved to be the game-winning goal.
Palestine 0-2 United Arab Emirates
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