Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Thimphu: Coach Abdel Nasser Barakat knows Palestine must discover their scoring touch despite edging closer to a second consecutive AFC Asian Cup Finals appearance with a 2-0 win over Bhutan on Tuesday.
Yaser Islame and Abdallatif Albahdar scored in the second half at Changlimithang Stadium as 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualifier Palestine maintained a perfect record in Group D after opening their campaign with a 3-0 away win over the Maldives and 2-1 home win over Oman.
But having failed to turn a dominant first half display into a breakthrough against Bhutan, Barakat’s side will need to learn how to turn possession into goals if they are to challenge at the 2019 AFC Asian Cup Finals in the United Arab Emirates should they convert their three-point lead over Oman at the top of Group D into qualification.
“It was a very tough game for us and Bhutan played really well. We must give credit to the Bhutan coach as he capitalised on our mistakes,” said Palestine coach Barakat.
“We wanted three points and got them, but in a very difficult way as Bhutan have improved a lot.”
Palestine qualified for the AFC Asian Cup for the first time in 2015 having won the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup and lost all three games in Australia - scoring once and conceding 11 in defeats by Japan, Jordan and Iraq.
“We had so many chances and we missed many which gave Bhutan a confidence boost to play well,” added Barakat.
With second placed Oman beating the Maldives 5-0 in Muscat, Palestine crucially moved six points clear of third place side the Maldives with three games remaining and the top two securing qualification to the expanded 24-team tournament.
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