The "Tasnim" news agency, quoting Ihab Abu Jazer, the head coach of the Palestine national football team, wrote that the national team played against Iran with its third players and lost 2:0: "The absence of several players played an important role in this result. We used players who were our third choice; Not even the second choice."
According to him, "Most of these players were playing together for the first time, which is a challenge in itself. Also, we didn't even have a full training session in Basra. These are not excuses; I only mention the factors that played a role in registering this result."
The head coach of Palestine also said: "This is what football is. This was the first defeat of the Palestinian team in 2026; This too against a strong team like Iran. It's not that we lost to a weak team in Asia. We lost against the second ranked team in Asia. The events of the game caused this failure."
He saw Omid Swafta's dismissal in the second half as one of the reasons for the defeat and said: "In football there are also wins, losses and draws." Before the red card, the game was going a certain way. The flow of the game changed completely after that.