Hebron: Palestine secured a second consecutive appearance at the AFC Asian Cup on Tuesday evening after beating Bhutan 10-0 in Group D of qualifying for the 2019 Finals in the United Arab Emirates.
With Oman beating the Maldives 3-1 in the group's other match on Tuesday, Palestine were assured of a top-two finish with two matches to spare. Oman also sealed a berth in the Finals.
Abdallatif Al Bahdari (pictured below, left) claimed a first-half hat-trick while Jonathan Cantillana scored twice in the second half as the Palestinians notched up their fourth win in a row to stand on the cusp of qualification.
Palestine now have 12 points while Bhutan’s slender hopes of qualifying for their first-ever Asian Cup have been extinguished as they sit bottom of the group with no points from their four matches.
Al Bahdari gave Palestine the perfect start in the third minute when he headed home Tamer Seyam’s (pictured above, right) cross from the left and, two minutes later, Abdallah Jaber doubled his side’s lead when he fired his shot into the top left corner.
It took until the 21st minute for Palestine to add to their tally when Jaber turned provider, setting up Seyam to score from the right and, seven minutes later, it was 4-0 when Sameh Maraaba turned in Jonathan Cantillana’s low cross.
Al Bahdari claimed his second of the night six minutes before the interval when he headed in Seyam’s free-kick and Cantillana’s corner four minutes later unlocked the Bhutan defence once more as Al Bahdari completed his hat-trick with a header.
Khaled Salem notched up Palestine’s seventh from the penalty spot after Dsawa Tshering handled the ball inside the Bhutan penalty area before Seyam again unloicked the home defence, splitting the backline with his pass to allow second half substitute Mohammed Natour to score.
Cantillana picked up his first of the evening to make it 9-0 in the 63rd minute when he struck a powerful show home from the edge of the area and he completed the rout seven minutes later when he scored from close range after the Bhutan defence failed to clear Seyam’s free-kick into the area.
Photos: AFC
Source: the-afc.com