DOHA, Qatar (AP) 鈥 The Palestinian soccer team gets its first test at the Asian Cup on Sunday, with its preparations having been made harder by no domestic soccer and limited opportunities to play competitive matches.
It faces three-time champion Iran in its opening game of the tournament, on the same day as the Israel-Hamas war reaches the .
鈥淭here has been very little football activity in Palestine for three months since the start of the war and this impacted us negatively, but we played friendlies abroad and qualifiers,鈥 team captain Musab Battat said Saturday. 鈥淲e want to put in good performances and get good results for our fans.鈥
Qatar captain Hassan Al Haydos handed the honor of taking the pre-tournament oath to Battat at Friday鈥檚 opening ceremony in Lusail.
鈥淎s a captain, saying the pledge was a proud moment for me as a captain of Palestine,鈥 Battat said.
His team lost 1-0 against Uzbekistan and drew 0-0 with Saudi Arabia in warmup games this month. In November it lost 1-0 against Australia and drew 0-0 with Lebanon.
Despite that winless run, Battat spoke with confidence ahead of facing Iran.
鈥淥ur preparations went well, we are ready and fully aware of the size of the task at hand in this tournament. We are in good form at the moment and raring to go,鈥 he said.
The Palestinian team's coach Makram Daboub spoke of his desire to bring 鈥渏oy for our people.鈥
鈥淚ran are one of the best teams in the continent. They have a lot of top players and are a talented group,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 between them, (South) Korea and Japan for the title in my opinion.
鈥淩ecently we played very well against Australia, Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia, so in one match we fancy our chances, and we can dream of going through to the next round.鈥
The United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong are also in Group C.
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