Palestinians praying for a win in crucial London Games qualifier

By Maher Abukhater Jun 22, 2011, 15:30 GMT

Ramallah - Palestinians have been asked to hold their breath and pray as their Olympic football team prepares for a crucial return game against Bahrain on Thursday.

The Palestinian team beat Bahrain 1-0 in Manama on Sunday, and a win at home will see them qualify for the third Asian qualifying round for the 2012 London Games, their first chance at an international competition.

'Palestinians - Muslims and Christians - should stand united behind their team and pray to God for their team to win,' Jibril Rjoub, head of the Palestinian Football Association, said.

He told reporters in Ramallah that the Thursday home game against Bahrain 'is crucial, politically and athletically, because it is the first recognised international game that will be played against an Arab team on Palestinian land.'

A win, he said, 'is highly critical.'

The game takes place at 12,000 seat Faisal Husseini Stadium in Al Ram, located few kilometers north of Jerusalem but behind an eight-meter high concrete wall Israel has built to separate East Jerusalem from the rest of its West Bank environs.

The winner progresses to the next stage, with 12 teams devided into three groups and the group winners claiming a ticket to the Olympics.

A former top security official and member of the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Central Committee, Rjoub, 58, headed the Palestinian Football Association in 2006 when it was at its lowest point.

He was able to transform the association into one of the most influential local and Arab sports organization and was able to help build five football stadiums of international standard in the West Bank.

But Rjoub is not yet satisfied. He wants to see the football team reach international levels, in spite of the Israeli restrictions on movement of its players and the difficulty of bringing them together from all over the world.

The Gaza players were for a long time not allowed to play in the West Bank, forcing the Palestinian team to practice in foreign countries, such as Egypt.

Rjoub hopes that building a strong football team is part of the state institution-building process, which prepares for the proposed declaration of a Palestinian state in September during the United Nations General Assembly meeting.

The Palestine team will next play Afghanistan on June 29 and July 3 in the first round of Asian qualifying for 2014 World Cup.

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