Palestine will face Qatar in their first-ever Round of 16 tie in the Asia Cup on Monday. The defending champions prevailed in all three of their group matches, including a 1-0 victory against China on matchday three. Meanwhile, the Palestinians defeated Hong Kong 3-0 to secure one of the top four third-place positions.
Preview (Qatar vs. Palestine)
Qatar achieved a perfect record at the end of the competition’s group stage for the second time in a row. They have not conceded a single goal. Including the group and knockout phases, the Maroons have only let up one goal in their last ten Asian Cup games, and they have never trailed in any of those games. This team has been nearly untouchable when leading, except for a 2-1 loss against Jordan to start 2024. Since the conclusion of the 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup, they have only lost once after leading.
They have only let up two goals in the first half of their ten goals given up since September. They haven’t trailed at the half since they lost to Panama (3-0) in the Gold Cup quarterfinal last summer. Tintin Marquez took over as manager in December and has won four of his five games so far. His team has only conceded once, and that was against Jordan in their sole loss. In their last six competitive games against the Palestinians, Qatar is undefeated. In their previous four meetings with them, the Maroons did not allow a goal to be scored.
Palestine was resilient in their last group match, winning by three goals, their greatest win since a 4-0 victory over the Philippines in June 2022. This was Palestine’s first-ever win at this competition. After winning the 2020 Bangabandhu Cup, Monday will be the Palestinians’ first appearance in a tournament’s knockout stage. Makram Daboub’s team scored five goals in the Asian Cup group stage, which is two more than they had scored in the nine games they had played together before to the competition.
Team News
On matchday three, all three of Qatar’s goalkeepers saw play. Saad Al-Sheeb started the game and was replaced by Salah Zakaria at the half, but he was injured just after the hour, so Meshaal Barsham had to enter and finish it. Al-Sheeb was one of nine players who were added to the starting 11 for that match; the only two players who remained in the starting lineup were Mostafa Meshaal and Bassam Al-Rawi. After replacing Meshaal in the second half, captain Hassan Al-Haydos scored his first goal of the 2023 Asian Cup a few minutes after entering the game.
In their historic triumph over Hong Kong, the Palestinian starting eleven saw two changes: the addition of Mohammed Khalil and the replacement of Camilo Saldana and Mohammed Rashid. On matchday three, Islam Batran made his tournament debut after substituting for Tamer Seyam in the closing moments of the second half. Zaid Qunbar scored his first goal for the national team on Tuesday, and Rami Hamadeh only needed to make one stop to record a clean sheet. Oday Dabbagh recorded a brace.
Qatar 1-0 Palestine
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