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Such a long journey for Palestine’s footballers

FIFA president Sepp Blatter intervened to try and mediate, but the problems persist with the team struggling with travel restrictions.

Palestinian football players at a training session in Incheon. (Source: AP)

Most football teams competing at the Asian Games get the benefit of national training camps and logistical backup to ensure all the players need to concentrate on is the games. Not so for the Palestinian team — some of the players have had to avoid air strikes, plan their routes to practice sessions to avoid danger and all the while hope they will be able to travel abroad to play. But the Palestinian players here in Incheon refuse to be weighed down by their off-field distractions. Instead, they hope these Asian Games will be a breakthrough competition that will raise their profile in the international arena.

“We want to play the final,’’ Ahmed Maher said as he went through stretching drills in a quiet corner of the athletes’ village. “We’ve practiced hard and we are here to show everyone what we can do.’’

Maher’s optimism stems largely from the senior team’s recent success at this year’s AFC Challenge Cup in the Maldives, where the team beat the Philippines 1-0 in the final to qualify for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup in Australia. At the Asian Games, though, only three players aged over 23 are allowed in each squad, so the national squad has a new look to it.

“Maldives … very good win. It made people happy during difficult times,’’ the 23-year-old midfielder said of the campaign that boosted the Palestinian team an all-time high position of 94th in FIFA rankings.

The victory triggered wild celebrations back home in May as striker Ashraf Al Fawaghra’s free kick completed an impressive tournament win. The Gaza sky lit up with fireworks. It was an emphatic victory as the team did not concede a goal in five matches and drew only one match in the tournament.

Islam Patran, a defender on the Palestinian team, explained that the squad managed to get together for friendlies despite the lack of a national training camp this year. “We trained and played practice matches in Qatar, Oman and Bahrain over one month,’’ Patran said.

“We also had a championship in Palestine three months ago but we could not hold a national camp this year.’’ The Palestinian team over the past year has included some expatriates. But for the majority of the players, Israel’s refusal to give exit visas has been a major hindrance.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter intervened to try and mediate, but the problems persist with the team struggling with travel restrictions. It’s also a dangerous place to be a footballer.