SEOUL: For Palestine, ranked 96th in the world, holding No. 23 South Korea to a goalless draw in their World Cup qualifying match on Thursday must have felt like a victory.
After securing a point to start Group B play in the third round of Asian World Cup qualification at Seoul World Cup Stadium, Palestine head coach Makram Daboub said he was 'extremely happy' with the result, Yonhap News Agency reported.
"It was a difficult match, but we were able to come away with a good result because we brought all the players that we could get our hands on.
"I am extremely happy to bring joy to our fans in Palestine," Daboub said through an interpreter.
With their country ravaged by war, there were only a few Palestinian fans among the announced crowd of 59,579 at the stadium.
The setting could have been overwhelming for the visiting team against such a heavily partisan crowd, but Daboub said his players have what it takes to overcome the challenges.
"Our players have the mental fortitude to handle pressure-packed situations," the Tunisia-born coach said. "Obviously, given our country's situation, only few fans were able to come here. But we still wanted to give them a message of hope that we could qualify for the World Cup. We're really happy to get a point tonight."
Palestine could even have won the match, if Wessam Abou Ali had scored on his counter break during second-half stoppage time.
"Our players were not in their best form physically, and so I had some concerns in the second half," Daboub said. "But tactically, the players executed our plan really well. I think it was a fair result for both teams because we both missed scoring chances."
Palestine goalkeeper Rami Hamada was by far the best player of the match, as he turned aside a barrage of South Korean shots in the second half.
He made tough saves on close-range headers by forward Oh Se Hun and denied a sharp free kick taken by Lee Kang In from just outside the box.
"I'm so proud of my teammates, my goalkeeping coach and our people in Palestine. It was a hard game against a big team and big stars. We did the job. We came here to do positive things and we took one point. We're proud of this," he said.
Hamada, one of several unattached players on the Palestine squad, has been training independently for approximately a year.
Despite not being affiliated with a club, he remains steadfast in his pursuit of qualifying for the World Cup.
"We just fight for our people. We have dreams. We fight for our dreams. We have a message for people that we have the quality and ability to play in all situations," he said.
When asked if the United States being one of the co-hosts of the 2026 World Cup gave him extra motivation, Ramada said, "We don't care if it's in the US, Germany or Canada. We have a dream. If our chance is 0.0001 per cent, we will fight for that." – BERNAMA-YONHAP