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LONDON: Palestine are ready to show the competition they mean business when they get their Asian Cup campaign started against Syria on Sunday.
The side head into only their second Asian Cup — their first, four years ago, ended in a group stage exit — with head coach Noureddine Ould Ali telling his players to go on to the pitch and make a statement.
“Our preparations has been quite exceptional and it is the first game that will open the door for Palestine football to announce to Asia and world that we’re here,” he said.
“It is a very exciting moment for us as we enter the arena with Syria and we look forward to a strong match and fair play. We’re representing our country and we want to make Palestine proud.”
Their Group B rivals Syria are fancied to do well in the UAE, having come close to qualifying for last year’s World Cup. But the Algerian believes his team are ready to take them on.
“We had a successful training camp in Qatar for a month where we worked on our weaknesses through friendlies and now we have to focus, focus and focus,” Ali said.
“Syria are a strong team both as individuals and as a team. They have the players to win the match but we have our strategies to get a positive result,” added the 46-year-old.
Syria head coach Bernd Stange is taking nothing for granted against Palestine, despite his side being one of the favorites to go far.
“Nobody in our team is going to say that we are going to win the title. We’re not arrogant.,” the German said.
“We have a young group of boys. We won’t say we want to win all matches but we will go as far as we can and our first objective is to have a good result against Palestine.
“I think Iraq has shown what’s possible. Years ago (2007) they won the Asian Cup when nobody expected them to win and I personally believe these are young boys and they should fight and run for their country.”