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Washington Post
11 hours ago
- Sport
- Washington Post
A penalty shattered Palestinian World Cup dreams for 2026. The squad has inspired hope
AMMAN, Jordan — An engrossing qualifying journey of 16 games and the obstacles of a war came crashing down in an instant for Oday Dabbagh and his Palestinian team. Their legacy will long continue. Players left the field in tears in the immediate aftermath at the King Abdullah II Stadium in Amman, Jordan, last Thursday after their quest for a first appearance at a World Cup evaporated on a contentious penalty awarded deep in extra time. Fans looked on, stunned.
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
A penalty shattered Palestinian World Cup dreams for 2026. The squad has inspired hope
Palestinian fans watch an Asian Group B World Cup qualifying soccer match between Paelstinians and Oman at the King Abdullah II Stadium in Amman, Jordan on June 12, 2025.(AP Photo/John Duerden) Palestinian players leave the field after an Asian Group B World Cup qualifying soccer match against Oman at the King Abdullah II Stadium in Amman, Jordan on June 12, 2025. (AP Photo/John Duerden) Palestinian players leave the field after an Asian Group B World Cup qualifying soccer match against Oman at the King Abdullah II Stadium in Amman, Jordan on June 12, 2025. (AP Photo/John Duerden) Palestinian fans watch an Asian Group B World Cup qualifying soccer match between Paelstinians and Oman at the King Abdullah II Stadium in Amman, Jordan on June 12, 2025.(AP Photo/John Duerden) Palestinian players leave the field after an Asian Group B World Cup qualifying soccer match against Oman at the King Abdullah II Stadium in Amman, Jordan on June 12, 2025. (AP Photo/John Duerden) AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — An engrossing qualifying journey of 16 games and the obstacles of a war came crashing down in an instant for Oday Dabbagh and his Palestinian team. Their legacy will long continue. Advertisement Players left the field in tears in the immediate aftermath at the King Abdullah II Stadium in Amman, Jordan, last Thursday after their quest for a first appearance at a World Cup evaporated on a contentious penalty awarded deep in extra time. Fans looked on, stunned. 'It's very hard,' Dabbagh, the team's star striker, told The Associated Press. 'It was massive for us to get to the next stage — we prepared well, we had a positive atmosphere, and we had the fans with us. We gave everything, but it was gone in a moment.' Needing to win its last three Group B games to reach the playoffs for the last two of Asia's automatic spots at the World Cup, the No. 101-ranked team in the world beat Iraq in Basra in March, Kuwait in Kuwait City on June 5. Five days later, it was leading 1-0 against Oman in Jordan in the 97th minute. The Palestinians had never been in a better position in qualifying for a World Cup. Then Oman was awarded, and scored, a penalty to make it 1-1 in the last real act of the game. Advertisement Not long after the dejected players had picked themselves up, the Palestine Football Association (PFA) made an official complaint to soccer's world governing body, FIFA, about the penalty. It didn't change the fact, however, that the long road trip was over. 'We tried to put smiles on the faces of Palestinians amid their great pain,' head coach Ihab Abujazar said. 'The heroic players are our pride and glory, a symbol of all that is beautiful in the Palestinian nation.' Playing Away It may have been different if the Palestinian team, admitted into FIFA in 1998, was able to play home games in front of its fans in Gaza or the West Bank in the third round of qualifying. The Israel-Hamas war meant that couldn't happen. And so the many of the team's home games have been taking place in the nearby Jordanian capital of Amman, home to a large community of Palestinians. Advertisement 'It is easier to play in your home,' Dabbagh, who helped Aberdeen win the Scottish Cup last month, said. 'But the circumstances there are so difficult so we choose to play in Amman as it is close to Palestine, the people are the same, and we have a lot of fans there." There's been no domestic soccer in the Palestinian territories since the war started in 2023. Hundreds of athletes are among the more than 55,000 Palestinians killed in the conflict and sports facilities have been destroyed. 'Everything that goes on makes us all sad,' Dabbagh said. 'As players, we try to focus on football during the games, but we use what is happening as motivation to bring happiness to the people of Palestine.' All but two of the roster of 27 national squad players are contracted to foreign clubs either in the region or in Europe, a change from the start of the conflict when a number of players weren't able to leave the West Bank or Gaza to report for international duty. Advertisement Over the past year or so, the Palestinian squad has assembled for training camps in Algeria, Qatar and Saudi Arabia to prepare for World Cup qualifying. The top two teams in each of three Asian groups in the third round earned direct spots for next year's World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The third- and fourth-place teams in each group advanced to a playoff for two more places. A win would have secured fourth spot in the group for the Palestinians. The last-minute draw meant they finished a point behind Oman in fifth. What's next? Now their focus has to shift to the 2027 Asian Cup, which will take place in Saudi Arabia. The Palestinian team has already qualified for the tournament. Advertisement Dabbagh is ready to show that the team is set to remain a force in Asian soccer and continue to be ambassodors for millions of people. 'We will keep using football as a message to show the world that there are other things in Palestine' he said. 'We will keep going. The dream is not over, it is just delayed.' ___ AP soccer:
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Morning Mail: Australia sanctions two Israeli ministers, Austria mourns ‘dark day', Socceroos secure World Cup spot
Morning everyone. Let's start with good news for a change: the Socceroos only needed to avoid heavy defeat against Saudi Arabia to qualify for next year's World Cup, but they did it in style with a 2-1 win. In other news: the Albanese government has made a surprise decision to impose sanctions against two Israeli ministers, joining four other countries. Austria has declared three days of mourning after a school shooting left eight pupils dead, and the political fight over LA protests continues in the US. Plus: Australia's virtual collection of 'weird animals'. World Cup awaits | The Socceroos secured their qualification for the 2026 World Cup thanks to a 2-1 win over Saudi Arabia at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium where, crucially, they avoided heavy defeat. Sanction surprise | Australia has joined the UK, Canada, New Zealand and Norway in placing sanctions on two Israeli government ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, for 'inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank'. Penny Wong, in a joint statement with the other four countries, said their behaviour was 'not acceptable'. Smotrich and Ben-Gvir are both critical to Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government and have a history of extreme views. At home, Jewish groups have accused the Australian National University of making its campus 'unsafe' after the board declined to adopt a definition of antisemitism endorsed by Universities Australia. ABC to axe Q+A | The ABC's managing director, Hugh Marks, is expected to unveil his first tranche of changes at the public broadcaster this morning, including a new round of redundancies and the axing of Q+A after 18 years. 'They're all so weird' | A scientist at Flinders University has pioneered the creation of a publicly available virtual collection of 1,600 bones and skeletons of animals such as the southern marsupial mole in order to tackle the myth that Australian fauna is less evolved. Excess excise | Economists say recent rises to the tobacco excise rate have not lowered smoking rates and the tax should be frozen or even 'radically' reduced to address the soaring cigarette black market. 'Dark day' | Austria will hold three days of national mourning after a 21-year-old man shot dead eight pupils and an adult at his old high school and injured a dozen more before turning his weapon on himself. The chancellor, Christian Stocker, called it 'a dark day in the history of our country'. 'Un-American' | Donald Trump has defended his decision to order more troops into Los Angeles to quell protests over federal immigration raids. His defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, said the soldiers would be there for 60 days and the House speaker, Mike Johnson, said California governor Gavin Newsom should be 'tarred and feathered' for his handling of the protests. Celebrities have backed a social media post by Mark Ruffalo condemning the 'authoritarian and un-American' response. Follow developments live. One-state solution | Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, says Washington is no longer pursuing the idea of an independent Palestinian state. Greta Thunberg has accused Israel of kidnapping her and her fellow activists in international waters after an attempt to break the Gaza blockade. Malta mystery | Two men have been sentenced to life in prison for supplying the car bomb that killed the anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta eight years ago. Crane to go | A giant crane that has blighted the skyline of Florence for almost 20 years is finally to be removed after city entrepreneurs clubbed together to pay for it to be dismantled. Palestinian journalist 'living in two different worlds' since fleeing Gaza The Palestinian journalist Plestia Alaqad speaks to Nour Haydar about her new memoir recounting living under siege in Gaza and her love for her homeland. Sorry your browser does not support audio - but you can download here and listen $ In the second part of our investigation into prison suicides, we examine the case of Suzzanne Davis who died while on remand in Western Australia in 2020 despite a coroner having warned about the danger of ligature points in cells. Chelsea Fisher, Suzzanne's daughter, talks about the pain of her mother's death and her anger at the failure of authorities to act. The latest TikTok health craze extols the virtues of kettlebell swings. Advocates say it can increase muscle mass, flatten your stomach and make your glutes stronger. In this week's Antiviral column, Natasha May asks experts whether it's safe or just a bad back waiting to happen. Sign up to Morning Mail Our Australian morning briefing breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Cricket | The World Test Championship between Australia and South Africa gets under way at Lord's later today. Geoff Lemon writes that it may be an odd format, but the more it's played the more relevant it seems. Swimming | Canadian swimmer Summer McIntosh set a world record for the second time in three days with the 18-year-old eclipsing Hungarian great Katinka Hosszu in the 200m individual medley. Football | The sacking of Ange Postecoglou – and his ability to project it almost as a triumph – shows that the Premier League has entered a post-truth phase, writes Jonathan Liew. The Trump administration is pressuring Anthony Albanese to intervene in the dispute over compensation for investors after the New South Wales government confiscated the mining leases of NuCoal in 2014, the Australian reports. Maroondah hospital in Melbourne's eastern suburbs is to close its speciality paediatric services, the Age claims. The Sydney Morning Herald celebrates the life of its longstanding cartoonist John Shakespeare, who has died aged 63. New South Wales | The state's auditor general publishes a report on the mental health of police. Business | Austrac begins its money laundering case against the Star casino at the federal court. Canberra| The EU ambassador Gabriele Visentin addresses the National Press Club. Enjoying the Morning Mail? Then you'll love our Afternoon Update newsletter. Sign up here to finish your day with a three-minute snapshot of the day's main news, and complete your daily news roundup. And follow the latest in US politics by signing up for This Week in Trumpland. And finally, here are the Guardian's crosswords to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow. Quick crossword Cryptic crossword
