Palestine and Bahrain achieved two remarkable results in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, the second decisive stage of which began on Thursday, with the presence of nine Arab teams out of 18 participating in the qualifiers.
Palestine returned with a valuable point from South Korea after a goalless draw with the Taeguk Warriors in Seoul in the first round of the third round of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup in football, as part of its quest to reach the finals for the first time in its history.
In its first participation in the third round, Palestine, ranked 96th in the world, did not submit to the host, the Reds, ranked 23rd.
Despite the obstacles, the visiting team thought they had scored in front of 66,000 fans at the World Cup stadium, but Tamer Seyam’s goal was ruled out for offside midway through the first half.
In contrast, South Korea also experienced many bumps with the appointment of their fourth coach this year. Hong Myung-bo, who coached the team in a first stint in 2014, came after the dismissal of German Jurgen Klinsmann in February following the team’s 2-0 semi-final exit to Jordan in the Asian Cup.
The last loss for Tottenham Hotspur star Son Heung-min’s teammates in the qualifiers dates back to June 2013.
Korea’s best chance in the first half came from youngster Lee Kang-in, but goalkeeper Rami Hamada made a brilliant save against the Paris Saint-Germain player from close range.
The Palestinian players looked tired in the second half, so they settled for counterattacks.
He wasted a golden opportunity and then the brilliant Hamada denied him again from scoring from a free kick in the 74th minute.
After Son found the post in the last minutes (87), Adi Al-Dabbagh was close to creating a shocking Palestinian goal for the fans, but his pass to Wissam Abu Ali in a one-on-one situation was saved by goalkeeper Jo Hyun-woo (90+2).
Tunisian coach Makram Daboub’s players maintained the tie until the final whistle of the second group match, which will witness two later matches between Iraq and Oman in Basra and Jordan and Kuwait in Amman.
Palestine will play its next match against Jordan on Tuesday in Kuala Lumpur, which it has adopted as its home ground in light of the ongoing war in Gaza, the suspension of the local league, and the fact that some of the Palestinian national team players are not currently affiliated with clubs.
Historic win
In contrast, Bahrain achieved its first ever victory over Australia, 1-0, at Sea Bass Super Stadium in Gold Coast, in the opening match of the third and decisive round of the Asian qualifiers.
After the expulsion of their player Kossini Yengi in the 77th minute, the host country suffered a second blow, when Harry Souttar scored the winning goal for Bahrain by mistake a minute before the end of regular time.
After six losses to the Socceroos, Bahrain achieved its first victory over the Oceanian team.
Bahrain reached this stage after qualifying as the second-place team in Group 8, behind the UAE team.
Meanwhile, the Australian team, seeking a sixth consecutive qualification to the World Cup, qualified as the top of Group Nine, achieving a perfect score of 18 points. It scored 22 goals and did not concede any in six matches, before it was shaken on Thursday by the Red Team.
The Bahraini team has never qualified for the World Cup finals. It came close to qualifying twice, but stumbled against Trinidad and Tobago in 2006 and then against New Zealand in 2010.
In the same group, Japan crushed its guest and rival China 7-0 in Saitama.
The 18 teams that qualified from the second round are divided into three groups, with the champion and runner-up qualifying after ten rounds extending until June 2025. Two other seats are available in the fourth round for the six teams that occupy third and fourth places, with the possibility of the qualifiers reaching nine through a global play-off.
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