By Mark Baber
September 8 – Myanmar won the third edition of the Peace Cup, defeating hosts Philippines with a 3-2 win in the final on Saturday, whilst Palestine, whose participation is a victory in itself, defeated Chinese Taipei 7-3 to take the bronze medal.
Myanmar’s win was a shock, coming against the two time winners of the tournament, and especially as Raddy Avramovic’s side was 2-1 down until a minute into stoppage time at the end of 90 minutes.
Their appearance in the final had come at the expense of Palestine, who they beat 4-1 on the opening day of the 4-team tournament. Nevertheless. Palestine will not be disheartened in coming third, especially as they also only equalised in stoppage time to send their game against Chinese Taipei into extra time.
For Palestine this tournament was part of their preparation for the Asian Cup after winning the Challenge Cup in May. Given their victory in that tournament, they should have been considered favorites fot this tournament, but their preparations were interrupted by the war in Gaza.
Only 14 Palestinian players were able to travel to The Philippines, with six players still trapped in Gaza, along with assistant coach Saeb Jundiyeh who fortunately survived his flat being hit by an Israeli rocket. Head coach, Jamal Mahmoud was also denied a visa to cross from Jordan into the West Bank for the pre-tournament training camp.
On top of that, when the team reached Dubai, on the way to the tournament, two of the players were held overnight by authorities.
After the opening day loss, Jamal Mahmoud told reporters, “We didn’t play well because we didn’t prepare very well. The war can be the reason. You see today the players’ fitness was very low.”
On this occasion, there is little denying the validity of the coach’s excuse for his team’s performance, and they made up for it in their final day performance, with Hebron-based Ahmed Mahir scoring four goals.
Team manager Abdallah Alfara looked forward to their upcoming fixtures, saying: “This is the first step for Palestine to prepare for the Asian Cup. We are going now to India, Thailand, Indonesia, Uzbekistan, China to play many international friendlies.”
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