September 6 – Despite all the anxiety and horrors of back home, war-torn Palestine gave their fans something to cheer about with a landmark 0-0 draw at Asian giants South Korea on Thursday as they attempt to reach the World Cup for the first time.
Making their debut in the third stage of Asian qualifying and 96th in FIFA’s rankings, Palestine frustrated their illustrious hosts and refused to be overawed as they secured a point in front of almost 60,000 fans in Seoul.
The other countries in Group B are Iraq, Jordan and Kuwait.
The third round will conclude in June next year. The top two teams from each of the three groups will qualify for the World Cup, while teams ranked third and fourth in their groups will move on to the fourth round for another shot at qualification through play-in slots.
Thursday’s match was the first for South Korea head coach Hong Myung-bo in his second stint in charge but his team, including skipper Son Heung-min, who was making his 128th appearance cap, were booed off.
Palestine play their home matches abroad, usually elsewhere in the Middle East, because of the war in Gaza. To put the result into further perspective, the local league has been suspended and many of the players are without a club.
Despite those obstacles and the fact that the Koreans had not lost a home qualifier since 2013, Palestine thought they had taken the lead in the 22nd minute only for the goal to be correctly ruled out for offside.
Son rattled the outside of the Palestine post in the dying minutes but the visitors held on, prompting a chorus of boos for the hosts but nothing but pride for the visitors.
“I understand where the fans come from. This is something I will have to endure going forward,” Hong said of the jeering. “I think our players did their best until the end, but we got off on the wrong foot to begin this qualification phase. We didn’t play as well as we wanted in the first half, and we couldn’t capitalise on our chances in the second half. We’ll have to go back to the drawing board tomorrow and start our tactical preparation for the next match.”
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