State of Palestine: National team draws with Saudi Arabia in historic home game

W/S Crowd cheering, Al Ram
W/S Crowd cheering
W/S Crowd cheering
W/S Crowd cheering
W/S Saudi National football team coach Herve Renard entering room
W/S Renard taking a seat
SOT, Herve Renard, Saudi national team coach: "No, there is no excuses. We played a tough game. I'm sure it would be difficult for the *INAUDIBLE* to come here and to get the *INAUDIBLE* that we got today, we received at the end. So the performance defensively was really good, we were strong fighting, because there was a lot of fighting in this game. Now we change since the last games against Singapore, the goalkeeper who changes to centre right, he did well."
C/U Microphones *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Herve Renard, Saudi national team coach: "It was a difficult game. Palestine beat Uzbekistan last month and so they were very confident and of course with this historic game they wanted to beat Saudi Arabia."
*IMMEDIATE TRANSLATION AT SOURCE*
W/S Press *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Said Yasser Al-Mishal, President of Saudi Football Federation (Arabic): "The match was difficult for both teams, the Palestinian team is a difficult team, especially on the land of Palestine, and a developed team. The former Saudi team coach, with whom we qualified for the World Cup as well, the result was tied with the Palestinian brothers in Jordan the same result. Thank God the Saudi team wanted to win but the result was good according to the data of the match and the public."
W/S Press *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Jibril Rajoub, head of Palestinian Football Association and the Palestine Olympic Committee (Arabic): "The visit and event today is a historical one and [has] political connotations. Think deeper and bigger than the match in this carnival, crowd, popular and official attention and crawl on the playing field, this event won very high privacy."*LOOSE TRANSLATION*
W/S Press *CUTAWAY*
SCRIPT
The Palestinian national football team hosted Saudi Arabia in Al-Ram in the West Bank for the first time on Tuesday, an unusual move as Arab sports teams play against Palestine in third countries to avoid applying for Israeli permits to enter the country.
Palestinian fans can be seen waving flags and cheering at the game, a double qualifying match for both the 2022 World Cup and Asia Cup 2023.
Saudi national team coach Herve Renard said it was a "difficult game" while speaking to the press after the match.
"Palestine beat Uzbekistan last month and so they were very confident and of course with this historic game they wanted to beat Saudi Arabia," Renard added.
The Saudi football team reportedly agreed to play within the occupied West Bank at the request of the Palestinian Authority, as Palestinian fans miss out on viewing their team play at home. The game, however, has reportedly drawn some criticism from some Palestinian activists, who claim the move is an attempt at a normalisation of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.