Few countries have undergone as much hardship recently as Palestine. Even still, the country is dealing with brutal bombing in Gaza from Israel as well as the forced displacement in the West Bank.
However, Palestine has proven to be an extremely resilient country, and its people refuse to give up. This was personified in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers on Monday.
Palestine was matched up against Iraq, and with the game tied 1-1 in stoppage time, the Palestinians managed to secure an improbable victory, scoring an unlikely header off of a corner kick in the last minute of the allotted stoppage time.
Incredible scenes as a last minute goal helps Palestine 🇵🇸 beat Iraq 🇮🇶 in the World Cup 2026 qualifiers. pic.twitter.com/hfEPJ0mrMz
— Alan MacLeod (@AlanRMacLeod) March 25, 2025
Fans reacted to the incredible win on social media.
“Should’ve been a foul called on the Palestinian player but congrats none the less, ” one fan wrote on Twitter.
“Get to the World Cup finals and let’s see the Palestinian flags waved in the face of IPAC. If dropped the A for them, it’s literally redundant,” one fan added.
“Exactly it is Incredible, they deserve to have it, they operate the 2nd half better than Iraq, It’s the match of the season,” another fan added.
“please win the world cup Palestine,” one fan begged.
It’ll be interesting to see if Palestine can overcome everything to qualify for the World Cup.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.