Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Melbourne: Fear factor played a role in Palestine’s opening AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015 defeat by defending champions Japan, but goalkeeper and captain Ramzi Saleh insists the tournament debutants are out to make amends on Friday against Jordan.
Beginning their maiden AFC Asian Cup campaign against the four-time champions was always going to be tough, and it proved the case for AFC Challenge Cup 2014 winners Palestine as Japan posted a convincing 4-0 win in Newcastle.
And while two-time quarter-finalists Jordan present their own set of problems for Ahmed Al Hassan’s side, Friday’s meeting is set to be a more closely matched affair with only 22 places separating the pair in the current FIFA rankings compared to 61 between Japan and Palestine.
“I feel sad for the result against Japan as it was a harsh result. The fear factor played a role playing against Japan, who are one of the best teams in Asia, a team that has won the tournament four times, so it is simply unfair to compare a team like Japan with all this experience to a team like Palestine who are participating for the first time in the tournament,” said 34-year-old Saleh.
“But despite defeat, we know the way we performed against Japan was not our best and we could have done a bit better. I have spoken to my team-mates, and the page about the Japan game has been folded away now.”
Saleh was one of the stars in the Maldives last May as Palestine won the AFC Challenge Cup to claim the final qualification berth for the AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015, with the goalkeeper keeping clean sheets in all five games.
And while Saleh was beaten four times against Japan, the veteran custodian remains key for Palestine ahead of the meeting with a Jordan side also looking to keep their own campaign alive following a 1-0 defeat by Iraq in Brisbane in their Group D opener on Monday.
“Palestine and Jordan lost their first match, but it will be a difficult match because there is only one way, we must win. It will be a difficult match, a derby between Jordan and Palestine, but I hope we can get Palestine’s first three points at the Asian Cup,” added Saleh.
“In the build up to the Japan match there was more than 12 million people around the world watching the match and we were very aware of that and very proud of the support coming from our people.”