The 2014 AFC Challenge Cup final was an association football match between Palestine and the Philippines on 30 May 2014 at the National Football Stadium in Malé, Maldives.

Background The AFC Challenge Cup was an international football competition for Asian Football Confederation (AFC) nations that was categorized as "emerging countries" in the "Vision Asia" program. It was an idea by former AFC president, Mohammed Bin Hammam which its goal to raise the standards of Asian football at all levels. The AFC Challenge Cup, which reflected the philosophy of "Vision Asia", was created for teams to experience playing in a continental competition with the possibility to win an AFC trophy and potentially discover new talent. It was held in every two years as its inaugural edition took place on 2006 in Bangladesh. This 2014 Challenge Cup was the last season, due to the expansion of participating national teams in the AFC Asian Cup from 16 to 24. Maldives won the hosting rights, with two renovated stadiums (Addu Football Stadium and National Football Stadium) were used as venues in the tournament. The winner qualifies for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup.

The two countries met twice before the finals match. Their first meeting was in the qualification phase of the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup on 23 March 2011 which ended in a goalless draw. While their second match together was at the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup third-place playoff, where the Filipinos won the game, 4–3. That result causes the Philippines to grab their best finish yet in a major tournament and in the Challenge Cup. Michael Weiss, then head coach of the Philippines congratulated his team by "showing their fighting spirit" throughout the game. He later admitted that "[he did not] expected the match to go that way". While, Palestine head coach Jamal Mahmoud described their last game against them was "the worst game that we ever played in international football". Like the Philippines, Palestine also made history as they were the first West Asian team to be in the knockout stage of the tournament. The Philippines were considered the "favorites" heading towards the game. Goal.com predicted that the Filipinos were more likely to beat Palestine in a 2–1 scoreline.

Route to the final

Before going to the main contest proper, all participating countries except Maldives competed in a qualifying round. Twenty nations confirmed their interest to take part in the AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers with Brunei withdrawing a day before the qualifiers citing "unavoidable circumstances". The winner of each group, and the best and better ranked second placed teams qualified for the AFC Challenge Cup proper. The teams in the group stages was trimmed down to eight, with the first and second ranked teams of each group advancing to the knockout stage.

RoundAFC Challenge CupOpponentResultQualifying roundOpponentResult1–0Qualifying Matchday 1Cancelled9–0Qualifying Matchday 28–00–0Qualifying Matchday 31–0Group D first placeQualifying round standingsGroup E first placeOpponentResultGroup stageOpponentResult1–0Matchday 10–02–0Matchday 22–00–0Matchday 32–0Group A first placeFinal standingsGroup B first placeOpponentResultKnockout stageOpponentResult2–0Semi-finals3–2 (aet)

Match

GK 21 Ramzi Saleh (c)DF 2 Raed FaresDF 15 Abdelatif BahdariDF 16 Haytham TheebMF 14 Abdullah JaberMF 19 Abdelhamid Abuhabib MF 20 Khader YousefMF 23 Murad Ismail SaidMF 8 Hilal Musa FW 10 Imad Zatara FW 7 Ashraf Nu'man Substitutes:GK 1 Tawfiq AliGK 22 Ghanem MahajnehDF 3 Hussam Abu Saleh DF 5 Omar Jarun DF 6 Mousa Abu Jazar DF 13 Khaled MahdiDF 18 Mus'ab Al-BatatFW 9 Tamer SeyamFW 11 Ahmad Maher WridatFW 17 Rami MusalmehHead coach: Jamal MahmoudManager:Abdallah Alfara GK 15 Roland MüllerRB 23 Simone Rota CB 12 Amani AguinaldoCB 2 Rob Gier (c)LB 21 Martin Steuble RM 11 Patrick Reichelt CM 6 Jason de JongLM 3 Daisuke SatoAM 22 Paul Mulders AM 17 Stephan Schröck CF 10 Phil YounghusbandSubstitutes:GK 1 Neil EtheridgeGK 16 Patrick DeytoDF 4 Anton del RosarioDF 5 Juan GuiradoMF 7 James YounghusbandMF 14 Simon GreatwichMF 18 Chris GreatwichMF 19 Jerry Lucena MF 20 OJ Porteria FW 9 Kenshiro Daniels FW 13 Ruben DoctoraHead coach: Thomas DooleyManager:Dan Palami

Assistant referees: Rafael Ilyasov (Uzbekistan) Lee Jung-min (South Korea) Fourth official: Ko Hyung-jin (South Korea)Match rules 90 minutes. 30 minutes of extra time if necessary. Penalty shoot-out if scores still level. Maximum of twelve named substitutes. Maximum of three substitutions.

References