"Playing in our own country and in front of our own fans is an important factor. We hope there will be a large number of fans as there were in Bhutan, the Bhutanese were loud. Therefore, we hope the Palestinian fans will come en masse. I mean the first time we qualified for the Asian Cup we qualified through the Challenge Cup, but this time, could be the first time through direct qualification. The goal before we started was to get the 10 points in group one, and thankfully we got these points, which are essential for us to improve our International and Olympic points."
Palestine prepare on the eve of their 2019 Asian Cup Group D qualifier against Bhutan in Dura, Palestine on Monday (9th October).
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Palestine will go a long way to clinching their place in the 2019 Asian Cup if they beat Bhutan on Monday in Group D.
At the halfway point of qualifying, Palestine have won all three games - including an impressive 2-1 victory over Oman.
Both teams play on Monday.
If second-placed Oman beat the Maldives, which is likely after their 5-0 win over the same country last month, and Palestine also get three points, the Palestinians will have a nine-point lead over third-placed Maldives with three games to go.
The top two teams from each group go through to the 2019 Asian Cup finals in the United Arab Emirates.
Bhutan are bottom of the group with zero points - they conceded 14 goals to Oman.
The Palestinians have been slowly rising up the FIFA world rankings since 2015 and that victory over Oman in September saw them jump from 116 to 94, overtaking the Omanis in the process.
Palestine made their first appearance in the Asian Cup finals in 2015 - but finished bottom of their group with zero points.
