Palestine thrash Bhutan 10-0, netting a place in the 2019 Asian Cup finals

Palestine thrash Bhutan 10-0, netting a place in the 2019 Asian Cup finals
Palestine played Bhutan in a ten goal thriller near Hebron, which saw all the balls going into the away team's net securing a historic victory.
2 min read
11 Oct, 2017
Palestine have secured a place into the 2019 Asian Cup finals [Anadolu]

Palestine's national football team hosted Bhutan for a match in front of 7,250 spectators on Tuesday afternoon, at the Dora International Stadium near Hebron. 

At the end of 90 minutes, the Palestinians managed to achieve one of their greatest victories ever, beating Bhutan 10-0 to qualify for the finals of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup in the United Arab Emirates.

Palestine will get one of the top two positions in Group D, which means - along with Oman - they have secured a second consecutive appearance at the AFC Asian Cup - with two matches to go. 

The star in the show was Abdallatif al-Bahdari, who scored a hat-trick in the first-half. Abdallah Jaber, Tamer Seyam and Sameh Maraabeh, also made the score-sheet to make it 6-0 at half-time. 

The dominant figure in the second-half was Chilean-Palestinian Jonathan Cantillana, who scored twice, along with Khaled Salem and Shabab al-Khaleel revelation, Mohammed Natour, who made the game 10-0.

The victory is Palestine's second-highest win ever, one goal behind their 11-0 goleada against Guam in 2006.

Palestine and Oman now both have 12 points each, which means they are guaranteed a place in Asia's top football competition.

In other results: Oman beat the Maldives 3-1, while Jordan tied with Afghanistan 3-3 in Dushanbe, Tajkistan.

Yemen and the Philippines ended their game with a 1-1 draw, while Lebanon smashed North Korea 5-0 in Beirut, which secures them a ticket to the UAE in 2019.

Mabrouk!

Uri Levy runs the popular football blog BabaGol, which covers football and politics focusing on the Middle East. Follow him on Twitter, and read his blog here