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Alexis Norambuena and Jonathan Zorilla have Chilean nationality and do not speak Arabic fluently, but they will defend the colors of the Palestinian national team, which includes players from the occupied territories who only know the roots of the family. and hope to achieve positive results.
The team is preparing for its second tournament (after 2015) in the UAE between January 5 and February 1, with a group of players who grew up far from the land of their ancestors who migrated under the occupation Israeli and who have been suffering for decades.
Born in Chile in 1992, Zorilla returned to the Palestinian territories in early 2017 as a player in Hebron. The current player of Hilal Jerusalem, has gained in recent months the experience of identifying other players on the team and is preparing to defend his colors in his first official championship.
"I was born in Chile, but I feel more Palestinian because of the players I've known for many years," Zorilla told AFP on the sidelines of the Al-Fadai training camp in Doha.
"It's very good to defend these people, to represent those who are fighting all the time," said the offensive midfielder, whose roots are rooted in the West Bank city of Beit Jala.
"Football is a way to bring joy to people, and being represented in this Cup is important for the country," said Norambuena, who has defended several Chilean clubs during his professional career.
"We hope to represent them and give them enough joy."
The experience of the Palestinian team is not unique, with many teams looking for players from their country to defend their colors. Teams benefit from FIFA rules allowing players to play with the home team (or another national team), provided that they have not played any match for the first team in the country where they were born.
A former Palestinian Union official said that the Palestinian Union continued its search around the world for talented footballers rooted in the occupied territories, before confirming the birth certificates of parents and grandparents, and Inclusion of the team led by Algerian Noureddine Ould Ali.
The official, who requested anonymity, added that his research focused on Chile. "A team named Palestine (Deportivo Palestino) was founded by Palestinian immigrants in 1920. At the end of 2016, players traveled to the occupied territories and played matches.
The Palestinian team of 23 members includes 10 players of Palestinian descent, some of whom bear Arabic names such as Jaca Habisha, of Slovenian nationality, and others who carry "names", such as Norambuena, known as Alex Nbadar, from Bethlehem, and Ybader Pinto, Islamic
This mix of players poses the dilemma of communication within the team, as many foreign nationals do not master the Arabic language.
"To communicate, some speak English and others in Spanish and we can understand each other," says Norambuena. "Training camps, like those in Doha," help us understand each other better. "
"Maybe we do not play one with the other and we do not know each other well, but what matters is the team."
Coach Ould Ali does not consider that the language barrier affects the performance of the national team.
"We have to adapt, we have to impose a system and we have to get involved," he told a AFP question. "All players will be football, motivation to qualify, motivation to win a match, Motivation to represent Palestine."
At the 2015 tournament in Australia, the team lost all three group matches and conceded 11 goals against an orphan goal.
But in the 2019 friendly, he won a victory over Pakistan, two draws with China and Iran and a defeat against Iraq, leaving him hope of a UAE's best result in 2019, despite its stalemate in Group B, which includes defending champions Australia, Jordan and Syria.
The team will play its first match against Syria on Sunday.
The team's participation despite the suffering of the conditions of the occupation, which has a negative impact on the movement of players and the possibility of gathering them for periodic exercises, a glimmer of hope for the Palestinians.
"The national team is a pride and it rivals the Asian level," said local coach Mohammed Sulaiman. "We hope to achieve something among the teams in his group."
Foreign players admit that the team may not be a candidate for positive tournament results, but that does not limit their hope of exceeding expectations.
"I think it's a good opportunity for all the players in the team, I think we're getting ready very well and we're going to try to create a surprise," Zorilla said.
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