Palestine’s historic Asian Football Confederation (AFC) qualifying campaign for the 2026 FIFA World Cup was ended by a late Oman penalty in a 1-1 draw in their final group game.
Needing a win to reach the fourth round of the AFC qualifiers, Palestine led deep into five minutes of injury time through Oday Kharoub’s goal early in the second half.
The scoreline would have been enough to propel Palestine past Oman into the fourth and final qualifying spot in Group B of the third round of the AFC qualifiers – a stage they had also reached for the first time.
However, a tug of the shirt on a runner chasing a free kick from the deep was spotted by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), and Palestine’s dream of a first appearance at a football World Cup ended with Essam Al-Subhi’s spot kick in the 97th minute of the match.
Kharoub’s headed goal came after a fine first half for Palestine, in which Michel Termanini struck the bar with a header.
Wessam Ali had a second for Palestine ruled out for a marginal offside, only moments after Oman’s Harib Al-Saadi saw red for a second yellow following a foul on Hamed Hamdan in the 73rd minute.
The decisive moment came, though, when Muhsen Al-Ghassani ran clear in the box in an attempt to reach a looped ball in the area. Ahmed Taha’s grab at the runner was deemed illegal and the eliminating kick was awarded against Palestine.
Palestine’s AFC Asian Cup nearly the spark for World Cup dream
The run to the third round of the AFC World Cup qualifiers for the first time followed Palestine’s remarkable feat of reaching the knockout stages of the last AFC Asian Cup for the first time.
A first appearance at football’s global showpiece was only one more round away until the late drama at the King Abdullah II Stadium in Amman, Jordan, where Palestine were forced to stage their home matches due to Israel’s war on Gaza.
The full-time whistle, and with it, anticipated scenes of wild celebration was cruelly only seconds away for Palestine.
Instead, the tension that was palpably building ahead of the referee calling an end to the match turned to scenes of despair as tears rolled down the cheeks of the Palestine players, many of whom collapsed to the floor in disbelief.
Oman now join Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Iraq and Indonesia, who lost 6-0 to Japan earlier in the day, in the fourth round of qualifiers, from which two teams will join the already six qualified nations from the third round of qualifiers.
One final chance will be available for the third-placed team from the fourth round of qualifiers, as that nation will progress to the FIFA Intercontinental Playoffs in a last-chance saloon to line up at next year’s finals.
Australia became the final team to confirm their automatic qualification from the third round of qualifiers when they saw off Saudi Arabia’s challenge for second spot in Group C with a 2-1 win in Jeddah.
Alongside Australia – Japan, Iran, South Korea, Uzbekistan and Jordan, finished as the top two finishers in their group to book their places at the 2026 tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The latter two qualified for a World Cup for the first time.
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