Thursday 24 June 2021, 19:12

Five-star Palestine come from behind to beat Comoros

  • Palestine beat Comoros to book Arab Cup ticket

  • After going down early they scored five unanswered goals

  • Palestine will meet Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Jordan in Group C

Palestine came from behind to defeat Comoros 5-1 and book their place at the FIFA Arab Cup 2021™. They will join Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Jordan in a competitive-looking Group C at the end of the year.

Comoros started brightly at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium. Within five minutes Les Coelacantes were on the scoresheet thanks to Moussa Djoumoi, who latched on to the end of a flicked through pass from Mohamed M'Changama.

Palestine slowly started growing into the game, and in the 34th minute they had their equaliser. Layth Kharoub was the most alert in Comoros' penalty area and he poked in from close range after Moyadh Ousseni failed to deal with the free-kick.

Eight minutes later Oday Dabbagh produced a moment of individual brilliance and rocketed a left-footed shot past a helpless Ousseni.

After the half-time break, Palestine did not take their foot off the gas and continued their dominance. Palestine extended their lead with arguably the pick of the bunch as Dabbagh curled in a Luka Modric-esque, outside-of-the-boot cross for Tamer Seyam, who made a lung-bursting run to the near post before glancing in a header off the far post and in.

In the 71st minute it was a case of déjà vu as Dabbagh broke free on the right wing again before putting a pass on a plate for Seyam to score from close range and make it 4-1.

Ten minutes later Islam Batran put the icing on the cake as he took advantage of some slack defending before scoring Palestine's fifth and ensuring they will participate in the Arab Cup at the end of the year.