2023-11-20 19:31:16
Campaign in Kuwait… “Prepare your coffee cup” and encourage Palestine
The Palestine national team is receiving a great ovation in Kuwait, as it faces a difficult confrontation with Australia on Tuesday at Jaber Al-Ahmad International Stadium, as part of the joint Asian qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2027 Asian Cup, in light of the ongoing war between Israel and the Hamas movement.
Kuwaiti Federation President Abdullah Al-Shaheen said after receiving his Palestinian counterpart, Jibril Rajoub, on Sunday: “In implementation of the directives of the political leadership, we are hosting the Palestine match, which is dear to us, in your land, in the land of friendship and peace.”
He continued: “I hope that this match will be a message to all the peoples of the world.” Kuwait embraces its Palestinian brothers, which has been its national role for more than 70 years.”
For his part, Rajoub said in a video clip published by the Kuwaiti Federation: “We thank you and we thank your country and state. “Kuwait has a great place in the hearts of the Palestinians.”
Abdullah Al-Shaheen, President of the Kuwaiti Federation (X platform)
According to Agence France-Presse, a post circulated on social media that said: “Our message is that the Palestinian national team will play on its home soil and we are its fans.” Your presence and support is important.”
The “Prepare your coffee and come cheer” campaign was launched on social media, in order to support the Palestinian national team and deliver “a message of solidarity with the Palestinian people to the world.”
The war broke out between Israel and Hamas following an unprecedented attack launched by the Palestinian movement on southern Israel on October 7, which led to the killing of about 1,200 people, the majority of whom were civilians, most of whom died on the first day of the attack, according to the Israeli authorities.
The Hebrew state vowed to “eliminate” Hamas, launched a massive air and artillery bombardment campaign, and began ground operations since October 27, causing the death of 13,000 people in the Gaza Strip, most of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Hamas government on Sunday.
After the AFC refused to host Algeria’s matches in Palestine, because it was not part of the Asian continent, Kuwaiti officials were keen to host the match that was originally scheduled in the West Bank.
The event took on an emotional dimension. The “Guardian” mission received a great welcome in Kuwait since its arrival on Friday, with public follow-up and encouragement during the training sessions.
The Australian national team decided to donate a portion of the proceeds from the match to the humanitarian efforts in the Gaza Strip. It is scheduled to provide a five-figure sum through the Australian Professional Footballers Fund to Oxfam, while the Australian Football Association will allocate a similar amount.
Mathematically, coach Graham Arnold’s squad seems likely to win, given his squad, which includes a number of players active in Europe.
The Palestinian national team suffered from the absence of some of its players (X platform)
The first round witnessed Palestine, ranked 96th in the world, tied negatively with Lebanon in Sharjah, which the “Cedars National Team” chose as its stadium as a result of a penalty imposed by the International Federation’s Disciplinary Committee, which ruled that it be deprived of its fans for one match, due to rioting in the match against Syria in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers. .
For its part, Australia, ranked 27th in the world, which reached the round of 16 in the last World Cup in Qatar, defeated Bangladesh 7-0.
“Al-Fedayi” is looking forward to achieving the best, despite the absence of a number of Gaza Strip players who were unable to join the national team, such as Khaled Al-Nabris, Ahmed Al-Kayed, and Ibrahim Abu Omair.
Since the beginning of the crisis in Gaza, sporting activity in the Palestinian territories has stopped, so the team moved to Jordan to maintain match fitness before the start of the qualifiers, and apologized for not participating in the Malaysian friendly tournament last October.
Daboub admitted that “it is difficult for players to focus on football, while we find that many of them have families in danger in Gaza,” such as Mahmoud Wadi (Egyptian Arab Contractors) and Mohamed Saleh (Egyptian Alexandria Union).
While his Tunisian coach, Makram Daboub, confirmed that he aspires to reserve one of the two qualification tickets against “one of the five best teams in the continent of Asia,” he stressed that “the Palestinian team is playing in its second country, especially since Kuwait’s position on the Palestinian issue has been very honorable over time.”
Australia coach Graham Arnold said: “What is happening there is horrific, but I don’t think we have any control over that.” We only have control over our performance, playing against Palestine and trying to get the job done for Australia.”
The Palestine national team has never qualified for the World Cup, but it succeeded in reserving its place in the Asian Cup finals scheduled for Qatar in early 2024 after two previous participations in 2015 and 2019, and came in the third group alongside Iran, the Emirates, and Hong Kong.
For its part, the Australian national team was crowned Asian champion in 2015 on home soil after joining the Asian Confederation in 2006 and competing in the World Cup on six occasions.
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