2014 AFC Challenge Cup Final

2014 AFC Challenge Cup Final

The National Football Stadium where it was held.
Event	2014 AFC Challenge Cup
Palestine Philippines 1 0
Date	30 May 2014
Venue	National Football Stadium, Malé
Referee	Valentin Kovalenko (Uzbekistan)
Attendance	6,500
Weather	Cloudy 28 °C (82 °F)[1]

The 2014 AFC Challenge Cup Final was an association football match between Palestine and the Philippines on 30 May 2014 at the National Football Stadium in Malé, Maldives.

Background

The AFC Challenge Cup was an international football competition for Asian Football Confederation (AFC) nations that was categorized as "emerging countries" in the "Vision Asia" program.^[2] It was an idea by former AFC president, Mohammed Bin Hammam which its goal to raise the standards of Asian football at all levels.^[2] The AFC Challenge Cup, which reflected the philosophy of "Vision Asia", was created for teams to experience playing in a continental competition with the possibility to win an AFC trophy and potentially discover new talent.^[3] It was held in every two years as its inaugural edition took place on 2006 in Bangladesh.^[4] This 2014 Challenge Cup was the last season, due to the expansion of participating national teams in the AFC Asian Cup from 16 to 24.^[5] Maldives won the hosting rights, with two renovated stadiums (Addu Football Stadium and National Football Stadium) were used as venues in the tournament.^[6][7] The winner will advance automatically to the 2015 AFC Asian Cup.^[8]

The two countries met twice before the finals match.^[9] Their first meeting was in the qualification phase of the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup on 23 March 2011 which ended in a goalless draw.^[10] While their second match together was at the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup third-place playoff, where the Filipinos won the game, 4–3.^[11] That result causes the Philippines to grab their best finish yet in a major tournament and in the Challenge Cup.^[12] Michael Weiss, then head coach of the Philippines congratulated his team by "showing their fighting spirit" throughout the game.^[13] He later admitted that "[he did not] expected the match to go that way".^[14] While, Palestine head coach Jamal Mahmoud described their last game against them was "the worst game that we ever played in international football".^[13][15] Like the Philippines, Palestine also made history as they were the first West Asian team to be in the knockout stage of the tournament.^[16] The Philippines were considered the "favorites" heading towards the game. Goal.com predicted that the Filipinos will more likely to beat Palestine in a 2–1 scoreline.^[17]

Route to the final

Before going to the main contest proper, all participating countries except Maldives will compete in a qualifying round.^[18] Twenty nations confirmed their interest to take part.^[19] But Brunei eventually withdrew from the competition a day before the AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers citing "unavoidable circumstances".^[20] There were 19 teams in the qualifying round. The winner of each group, and the best and better ranked second placed teams will qualify. The teams in the group stages will be trimmed down to eight, with the first and second ranked teams of each group will advance to the knockout stage.^[18]

Palestine		Round	Philippines
AFC Challenge Cup
Opponent	Result	Qualifying round	Opponent	Result
Bangladesh	1–0	Qualifying Matchday 1	Brunei	Cancelled
Northern Mariana Islands	9–0	Qualifying Matchday 2	Cambodia	8–0
Nepal	0–0	Qualifying Matchday 3	Turkmenistan	1–0
Group D first place Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Palestine 3 2 1 0 10 0 +10 7  Bangladesh 3 2 0 1 6 1 +5 6    Nepal 3 1 1 1 6 2 +4 4  Northern Mariana Islands 3 0 0 3 0 19 −19 0		Qualifying round standings	Group E first place Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Philippines 2 2 0 0 9 0 +9 6  Turkmenistan 2 1 0 1 7 1 +6 3  Cambodia 2 0 0 2 0 15 −15 0
Opponent	Result	Group stage	Opponent	Result
Kyrgyzstan	1–0	Matchday 1	Afghanistan	0–0
Myanmar	2–0	Matchday 2	Laos	2–0
Maldives	0–0	Matchday 3	Turkmenistan	2–0
Group A first place Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Palestine 3 2 1 0 3 0 +3 7  Maldives 3 1 1 1 4 3 +1 4  Kyrgyzstan 3 1 0 2 1 3 −2 3  Myanmar 3 1 0 2 3 5 −2 3		Final standings	Group B first place Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Philippines 3 2 1 0 4 0 +4 7  Afghanistan 3 1 2 0 3 1 +2 5  Turkmenistan 3 1 0 2 6 6 0 3  Laos 3 0 1 2 1 7 −6 1
Opponent	Result	Knockout stage	Opponent	Result
Afghanistan	2–0	Semi-finals	Maldives	3–2 (aet)

Match

Palestine  v  Philippines

30 May 2014 21:00 MVT

Palestine	1–0	Philippines
Nu'man  64'	Report

National Football Stadium, Malé Attendance: 6,300 Referee: Valentin Kovalenko (Uzbekistan)

Palestine

Philippines

GK 21 Ramzi Saleh (c) DF 2 Raed Fares DF 15 Abdallatif Albahdari DF 16 Haytham Dheeb MF 10 Imad Zaatara  90+1' MF 20 Khader Abuhammad MF 23 Murad Ismail Said FW 7 Ashraf Nu'man  90+4' FW 8 Helal Mousa  77' FW 14 Abdallh Jaber FW 19 Abdul Abuhabib  83'  86' Substitutes: GK 1 Tawfiq Abuhammad GK 4 Ghanim Mahajna DF 3 Husam Abusalah  77' DF 5 Omar Jaaron  90+1' DF 6 Mousa Abujasar  86' DF 13 Khaled Mahdi DF 18 Mus'ab Battat FW 9 Tamer Seyam FW 11 Ahmed Wridat FW 17 Rami Almasalma Head coach: Jamal Mahmoud Manager: Abdallah Alfara

GK 15 Roland Müller DF 2 Rob Gier (c) DF 3 Daisuke Sato DF 12 Amani Aguinaldo DF 23 Simone Rota  82' MF 6 Jason de Jong MF 17 Stephan Schröck  46' MF 21 Martin Steuble  90+5' MF 22 Paul Mulders  73' FW 10 Phil Younghusband FW 11 Patrick Reichelt  69' Substitutes: GK 1 Neil Etheridge GK 16 Patrick Deyto DF 4 Anton del Rosario DF 5 Juan Guirado DF 9 Kenshiro Daniels  82' MF 7 James Younghusband MF 14 Simon Greatwich MF 18 Chris Greatwich MF 19 Jerry Lucena  46' MF 20 Jose Porteria  73' FW 13 Ruben Doctora Head coach: Thomas Dooley Manager: Dan Palami

Assistant referees: Rafael Ilyasov (Uzbekistan) Lee Jung Min (South Korea) Fourth official: Ko Hyung Jin (South Korea)

Match rules[18] 90 minutes. 30 minutes of extra time if necessary. Penalty shoot-out if scores still level. Maximum of twelve named substitutes. Maximum of three substitutions.

References

1. "History for Malé, Maldives". Weather Underground. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
2. "Vision Asia Philosophy". Asian Football Confederation. 31 August 2007. Archived from the original on 16 October 2012. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
3. "AFC Challenge Cup in 2006 Competition Information". Asian Football Confederation. 5 September 2007. Archived from the original on 2 September 2012. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
4. "AFC Challenge Cup opening ceremony in Bangladesh". Asian Football Confederation. 28 November 2005. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
5. "Revamp of AFC competitions". Asian Football Confederation. 25 January 2014. Archived from the original on 3 February 2014. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
6. "Maldives to Host 2014 AFC Challenge Cup". Asian Football Confederation. 28 November 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
7. "Zone Stadium rebranded as Addu Football Stadium". Sun Online. 18 May 2014. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
8. "AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015™ preliminary draw results". Asian Football Confederation. 9 October 2012. Archived from the original on 12 December 2013. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
9. "Head to Head Stats of Palestine v. Philippines". Soccerway. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
10. "Philippines 0–0 Palestine". Asian Football Confederation. 23 March 2011. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
11. "Live Commentary of Philippines v. Palestine (2012)". Goal. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
12. "PHL Azkals seize 3rd place in AFC Challenge Cup with 4-3 win vs. Palestine". GMA News Online. 19 March 2012. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
13. Naredo, Camille (19 March 2012). "Azkals make history, finish 3rd in Challenge Cup". ABS-CBN News. ABS-CBN Corporation. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
14. "Weiss Gripped by Third Place Thriller". Asian Football Confederation. 19 March 2012. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
15. "We saved our worst for last!". Asian Football Confederation. 19 March 2014. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
16. Gutierrez, Natashya (26 June 2012). "Azkals bring home bronze, pride for PH". Rappler. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
17. "Preview Report of Palestine v. Philippines (2014)". Goal. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
18. "AFC Challenge Cup 2014 Competition Regulations" (PDF). Asian Football Confederation. pp. 18–19, 25. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
19. "Northern Mariana Debuts in Challenge Cup". Asian Football Confederation. 14 September 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
20. Begawan, Bandar (21 March 2013). "Brunei Withdraw from AFC Challenge Cup Qualifiers". ASEAN Football Federation. Retrieved 3 January 2015.