Jerusalem: The West Bank Premier League’ second round of the continues today in full force.
After Hilal al-Quds defeated Jabel Mukaber in a boiling East Jerusalem derby in last midweek (2:1), what kept the Mukabers away from the first place which they held for most of the first round, today the 14th round will be played with the game between Hilal and Shabab Balata, the reigning champions.
The Hilal of the second round is a different and stronger team than that of the first, mainly thanks to Reebal Dahamshe. Dahamsha, 18 years old from Kafr Kanna, has joined Palestinian football after starring in the youth of Israeli Hapoel Nof Hagalil and appeared on the Palestine B team last year. He’s gradually becoming the ‘great Palestinian hope’ for years to come. Apart from him, Hilal relies on a group of young Jerusalemites who grew up in the club, led by the experienced Mohammad Darwish, a Maccabi Haifa graduate.
Hilal Al-Quds, under his guidance, is a different team in the second round. Mohammed Darwish, after the victory in the East Jerusalem derby last week (Photo: Shurooq al-Shareef)
Troubles in Nablus?
Balata is not as dominant as last year, but still, compound the highest quality team in the league, perhaps also the most talented in terms of raw talent, and the oldest. Captain Abdaltif al-Bahdari is 36, Atef Abu Balal is already 37 and Ashraf Noaman, the magician from Wadi Nes, closes 34. Balata has some other familiar names like Musa Tarabin, Laith Kharoub and Mahmoud Abu Warda. Still, in that sense, today's game is a meeting between two different generations of Palestinian football.
The team who will follow the events closely is Shabab al-Khalil, who brought back Tamer Seyam from the Moroccan Hassania Agadir, and consecutively defeated both Jabal Mukaber and Shabab Balata - the two strongest teams in the league in the first round. Shabab is now head-to-head with Balata at the top of the table, with only one point between them favouring the Nablusians. Things are starting to get interesting.
18:00 Faisal Husseini, al-Ram
All photos courtesy of Shurooq Al-Shareef, the leading photo-journalist for Palestinian West Bank Premier League.
Balata will rely on his experience and leadership in Al-Ram. (Photo: Shurooq Al-Shareef)
