FIFA World Cup 2026 Asian Qualifiers: Palestine gives South Korea scare in stalemate

Making its debut in the third stage of Asian qualifying and 96 in FIFA’s rankings to South Korea’s 23, Palestine refused to be overawed for much of an open contest in Seoul.

South Korea’s Woo-Young Jung in action with Palestine’s Wessam Abou Ali during the World Cup AFC Qualifiers. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

Palestine gave South Korea a major scare in an entertaining 0-0 away draw on Thursday as it attempts to reach the World Cup for the first time.

Making its debut in the third stage of Asian qualifying and 96 in FIFA’s rankings to South Korea’s 23, Palestine refused to be overawed for much of an open contest in Seoul.

Palestine plays its home matches abroad, usually in the Middle East, because of the war in Gaza.

The local league has been suspended and many of the players are without a club.

Despite those obstacles, it thought it had taken the lead in the 22nd minute at the 66,000-capacity Seoul World Cup Stadium, only for the goal to be correctly ruled out for offside.

The host, under its fourth coach this year with Hong Myung-bo, looked shaky at the back and was struggling to get its talisman and skipper Son Heung-min into the game.

Its best chance of an even first half fell to Lee Kang-in, but Palestinian goalkeeper Rami Hamadeh just about kept out the Paris Saint-Germain player’s well-struck close-range effort.

The Palestinians appeared to tire in the second half and were restricted to rare but dangerous breakaways.

Lee was again guilty of missing a glorious chance when he shot wildly, then was denied with a 74th-minute free-kick that Hamadeh tipped over the bar.

Oday Dabbagh then went close for the visitors on the break, before Spurs star Son rattled the outside of the Palestine post in the dying minutes.

Palestine could have won it late on, only for goalkeeper Jo Hyeon-woo to save the host from an embarrassing defeat.

There were boos from the home fans at the end and the coach Hong said, “I’m sorry we couldn’t win this first match. The players did their best.”

Under its Tunisian coach Makram Daboub the Palestinian team have reached new heights this year.

At this year’s Asian Cup, it won a game for the first time in the history of the competition, defeating Hong Kong 3-0.

That put it into the knockout rounds of the tournament, another first, before going down 2-1 to host and eventual champion Qatar.

The squad trained in Malaysia for the South Korea game and will return there to prepare for its next qualifier, against Jordan in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, in what is nominally a home match.

It reached this stage of qualifying for the World Cup for the first time by coming second behind Australia in its group, winning two, losing two and drawing two of its six matches.