Palestine’s impressive record against South Asian nations

With India set to face Palestine in an international friendly on Wednesday, last week we examined India’s poor record against West Asian nations. On the other hand though, Palestine have been invincible against South Asian teams as they are unbeaten in nine official matches since becoming a part of FIFA in 1998. Besides the nine games, Palestine have also faced Pakistan in Pakistan in two unofficial friendly matches in 2011, winning one and drawing the other.

Palestine’s most recent meetings with teams from South Asia came in the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup, where they recorded 2-0 victories over Maldives and hosts Nepal. West Asian nations generally do well against South Asian opponents and despite being one of the weaker teams of West Asia and among the emerging nations of the continent, Palestine have been too strong for teams in the SAFF region.

This will be Palestine’s first match against India and will serve as an ideal preparation for their AFC Challenge Cup 2014 qualifiers where they have been placed in the same group as two other South Asian teams – Nepal and Bangladesh. Since 2006, Palestine has been regularly facing South Asian teams as they compete in the AFC Challenge Cup and thus could be possible opponents for India in the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup, the winners of which will qualify for the 2015 Asian Cup.

India are record six-time champions of South Asia and are in many ways, the final frontier for Palestine although they are yet to face 1995 SAFF Cup champions Sri Lanka and minnows Bhutan. India will be wary of Palestine’s impressive record over nine matches, where they have scored 15 and conceded only twice, but will be aiming to make the most of their home advantage and become the first South Asian nation to beat Palestine.

Here is a table on Palestine’s results against South Asian teams:

Opponent	Home/Away/Neutral	Score	Competition	Date
Pakistan	Neutral	2-0	2000 Asian Cup Qualification	April 2 2000
Pakistan	Neutral	3-0	International Friendly	February 18 2006
Bangladesh	Neutral	1-1	2006 AFC Challenge Cup	April 5 2006
Nepal	Away	0-0	2010 AFC Challenge Cup Qualifiers	March 26 2009
Bangladesh	Neutral	2-0	2012 AFC Challenge Cup Qualifiers	March 21 2011
Afghanistan	Neutral	2-0	2014 World Cup Qualifiers	June 29 2011
Afghanistan	Home	1-1	2014 World Cup Qualifiers	July 3 2011
Nepal	Away	2-0	2012 AFC Challenge Cup	March 8 2012
Maldives	Neutral	2-0	2012 AFC Challenge Cup	March 12 2012