Daboub praises his Palestinian heroes and a record Asian cup campaign crafted against the odds

January 29 – Showering his team with praise after their historic campaign at the Asian Cup that ended with a 2-1 defeat to hosts Qatar, manager Makram Daboub said his players had “alleviated the pain of Palestine”. 

On Monday Gaza’s health ministry said that at least 26,637 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza and a further 65,387 injured.  Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that 378 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank since 7 October.

Against this backdrop, Palestine played and excelled at the Asian Cup in a campaign that had a high degree of symbolism.

“The players have honoured Palestinian football,” said Daboub at the post-match conference. “I am proud of my champions and they are always proud to represent the Palestinian people and alleviate their pain.”

The war in Gaza was a constant thread during Palestine’s campaign, who prepared in Algeria and Saudi Arabia for the tournament but faced problems in cobbling together a team.

“The players were affected, we were very tired,” said Daboub. “We had a lot of logistic problems, to travel from Palestine. We had a difficult time and the players were willing to improve.  The players gave everything they had despite the difficult circumstances. Most of the players don’t have the rhythm. I can’t ask more of them.”

Despite the death and destruction back home, Palestine had four remarkable matches and they bowed out in style from the continental finals following a narrow defeat at the hands of reigning champions Qatar, who, propelled by a rampant Akram Afif, came back from behind to advance to the last eight of the tournament.

Daboub had nothing but praise for his charges, who got a maiden victory at the Asian Cup against Hong Kong before playing Qatar in their first round of 16 outing.

“We had difficulties gathering people, to create harmony when you have 15-20 players who are not playing in the teams. It was difficult to gather them…

Source link : https://www.insideworldfootball.com/2024/01/29/daboub-praises-palestinian-heroes-record-asian-cup-campaign-crafted-odds/

Author : Paul Nicholson

Publish date : 2024-01-29 21:20:46

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