Palestine ended their training camp in China with a commanding 5-0 victory over the hosts in a friendly at Chongqing Longxing Stadium on Friday.
Assad Al-Hamlaoui opened the scoring in the 16th minute, finishing right-footed from inside the penalty area after being played in by Oday Dabbagh. The goal was awarded following a review by the video assistant referee.
Al-Hamlaoui struck again six minutes later, this time converting from a pass by Zaid Qanbar. The second goal was also confirmed after a VAR review.
Palestine extended their lead in the fifth minute of first-half stoppage time. Dabbagh received the ball from Ameed Mahajna before firing a left-footed effort from inside the area to make it 3-0 at the interval.
China made five substitutions at half-time in an attempt to change the course of the match, but Palestine continued to control the contest.
Dabbagh scored his second goal of the game and Palestine’s fourth in the 54th minute, sending a right-footed shot into the net from the right side of the penalty area.
China came close to reducing the deficit twice later in the match, but both direct free-kicks struck the right-hand post. Wang Shangyuan hit the post with the first effort in the 68th minute, before Liu Yang repeated the feat with another free-kick in the 79th minute.
Palestine completed the scoring in the third minute of stoppage time when Ahmed Al-Qaq found the net with a right-footed finish from the centre of the penalty area. Al-Qaq had come on as a substitute for Dabbagh in the 82nd minute.
Khaled Al-Nabrisi was booked for Palestine in the 50th minute, while China’s Gao Zhunyi received a yellow card in the 68th minute for a strong challenge.
The result followed another impressive performance by Palestine during the same camp. They beat Tajikistan 4-2, with Al-Hamlaoui scoring twice in that match.
