{"id":1905,"date":"2025-12-08T15:03:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T07:03:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/?p=1905"},"modified":"2025-12-08T15:03:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T07:03:06","slug":"palestine-syria-celebrate-reaching-arab-cup-quarter-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/08\/palestine-syria-celebrate-reaching-arab-cup-quarter-finals\/","title":{"rendered":"Palestine, Syria celebrate reaching Arab Cup quarter-finals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Celebrations erupted on the pitch and in the stands in Doha on Sunday when both Palestine and Syria made it through to the Arab Cup quarter-finals following a 0-0 draw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For both sides, reaching the knockout stage in the regional tournament hosted by Qatar was magnified <\/strong>by the all-too-recent memory of conflict<\/strong> in their homelands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only weeks ago in Gaza, the war sparked by Hamas’ attack on Israel came to a halt under a fragile ceasefire plan<\/strong> brokered by the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the Syrian side, the game came on the eve of the anniversary<\/strong> of the ousting of Bashar al-Assad<\/strong>, who unleashed years of war with his crackdown on pro-democracy protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both nations knew a draw in their final Group A match would secure Palestine’s top spot<\/strong>, with Syria<\/a> progressing in second place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even ahead of the final whistle, around 40,000 fans<\/strong> packing the Education City Stadium began dancing and chanting to celebrate<\/strong> the two sides’ entry into the last eight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And at the end of the game, players on the pitch swapped jerseys<\/strong> and posed for photographs<\/strong> together<\/strong>, as the squads’ coaches embraced each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We are very happy to top the group<\/strong>, which included two great teams like Qatar and Tunisia, and we congratulate all Palestinian fans<\/strong>,” said Palestine striker Oday Dabbagh<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We played to win<\/strong>, especially after learning about Tunisia’s lead over Qatar, but we lacked the final touch in front of the goal… The most important thing is that we qualified<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Palestine coach Ehab Abu Jazar<\/strong> paid tribute to his mother<\/strong>, who, along with his brother and other loved ones, had to flee her home<\/strong> and now lives in a tent in Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“She has a lot of experience with sports<\/strong>, and she told me to play carefully,” he told AFP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Syrian striker Mahmoud al-Mawas<\/strong> said the result “means a lot to Syrians<\/strong> because it coincides with the Liberation Day celebrations… “Now, all our focus will be on the quarter-final<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a cafe in the Syrian capital, Damascus<\/strong>, 30-year-old Wafa Durri watched the game, with her country’s flag adorning her right cheek. “I had never supported the national team<\/strong>, but after the liberation everything changed, and now I support it with all my heart,” she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Celebrations erupted on the pitch and in the stands in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1906,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1905"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1905\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1907,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1905\/revisions\/1907"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}