2014 AFC Challenge Cup Final
# 2014 AFC Challenge Cup Final

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. It was an idea by former AFC president, Mohammed Bin Hammam which its goal to raise the standards of Asian football at all levels. 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. It was held in every two years as its inaugural edition took place on 2006 in Bangladesh. 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. Maldives won the hosting rights, with two renovated stadiums (Addu Football Stadium and National Football Stadium) were used as venues in the tournament. The winner qualifies for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup.

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

## Route to the final

Before going to the main contest proper, all participating countries except Maldives competed in a qualifying round. Twenty nations confirmed their interest to take part in the AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers with Brunei withdrawing a day before the qualifiers citing "unavoidable circumstances". The winner of each group, and the best and better ranked second placed teams qualified for the AFC Challenge Cup proper. The teams in the group stages was trimmed down to eight, with the first and second ranked teams of each group advancing to the knockout stage.

| Palestine | Palestine | Round | Philippines | 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 Teamvte 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 Source: RSSSF | Group D first place Teamvte 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 Source: RSSSF | Qualifying round standings | Group E first place Teamvte 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 Source: RSSSF | Group E first place Teamvte 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 Source: RSSSF |
| 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 Teamvte Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Palestine 3 2 1 0 3 0 +3 7  Maldives (H) 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 Source: RSSSF (H) Host | Group A first place Teamvte Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Palestine 3 2 1 0 3 0 +3 7  Maldives (H) 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 Source: RSSSF (H) Host | Final standings | Group B first place Teamvte 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 Source: RSSSF | Group B first place Teamvte 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 Source: RSSSF |
| Opponent | Result | Knockout stage | Opponent | Result |
| Afghanistan | 2–0 | Semi-finals | Maldives | 3–2 (aet) |

## Match

| Palestine | Philippines |
| - | - |
| GK | 21 | Ramzi Saleh (c) |
| DF | 2 | Raed Fares |
| DF | 15 | Abdelatif Bahdari |
| DF | 16 | Haytham Theeb |
| MF | 10 | Imad Zatara | | 90+1' |
| MF | 14 | Abdullah Jaber |
| MF | 19 | Abdelhamid Abuhabib | 83' | 86' |
| MF | 20 | Khader Yousef |
| MF | 23 | Murad Ismail Said |
| FW | 7 | Ashraf Nu'man | 90+4' |
| FW | 8 | Hilal Musa | | 77' |
| Substitutes: ||
| GK | 1 | Tawfiq Ali |
| GK | 22 | Ghanim Mahajneh |
| DF | 3 | Hussam Abu Saleh | | 77' |
| DF | 5 | Omar Jarun | | 90+1' |
| DF | 6 | Mousa Abu Jazar | | 86' |
| DF | 13 | Khaled Mahdi |
| DF | 18 | Mus'ab Al-Batat |
| MF | 9 | Tamer Seyam |
| MF | 11 | Ahmad Maher Wridat |
| FW | 17 | Rami Musalmeh |
| 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 |
| MF | 7 | James Younghusband |
| MF | 14 | Simon Greatwich |
| MF | 18 | Chris Greatwich |
| MF | 19 | Jerry Lucena | | 46' |
| MF | 20 | Jose Porteria | | 73' |
| FW | 9 | Kenshiro Daniels | | 82' |
| 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 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. |
