Lebanon and Palestine will both be hoping to begin their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaigns with a victory when they meet in Group I on Thursday.

The match will be played at a neutral venue in United Arab Emirates for safety purposes.

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Indeed, considering the current political climate in the Middle East, this qualifying match is unlikely to attract much attention from fans of Lebanon and Palestine, especially with the World Cup so far on the horizon.

However, with the 2026 edition in North America set to be expanded to 48 teams, Asia will benefit from having eight guaranteed qualifying slots up for grabs, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the next stage of qualifying.

As such, Lebanon will fancy their chances of qualifying for the World Cup for the first time in the nation's history, especially having achieved this at the most recent Asian Cup in 2019 (their only previous appearance at Asia's major international tournament came when automatically qualifying as hosts in 2000).

The Cedars are embarking on a new era under Nikola Jurcevic, who was appointed as their manager last month. The former Azerbaijan boss has not started as well as he would have liked, with his side suffering defeats to Montenegro and UAE in friendlies last month.

That said, they remained competitive in terms of only losing 3-2 and 2-1 respectively, suggesting they have every chance of beginning their qualifying campaign with a win against their neighbours and allies on Thursday.

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Any Palestinian loyalties to Lebanon due to off-field support will have to go out of the window once the referee's whistle is blown in Sharjah on Thursday,

Since becoming an officially recognised FIFA member in 1998, Palestine have failed to qualify for a World Cup, but they have improved in recent years to finish third in their group in 2018 and 2022.

This development has been clear for all to see given that they will compete at their third successive Asian Cup in Qatar in the New Year, but they missed out on their first appearance at the knockout stages of Asia's major tournament when drawing two and losing one of their group games in 2019.

However, recent turmoil in terms of the ongoing war between Palestine and Israel may have had a negative impact on results, with Makram Daboub's side losing three successive matches ahead of their fixture against Lebanon. The 50-year-old will be calling on his players to show plenty of heart to proudly represent their people in midweek.

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Lebanon will be led by their all-time record appearance holder and goalscorer Hassan Maatouk, with the 36-year-old hoping to add to his 112 caps and 23 goals since making his debut in 2006.

Interestingly, all bar three of Jurcevic's squad compete domestically in the Lebanese Premier League, with two playing in Indonesia and one in Malaysia.

Palestine, meanwhile, will be confident of causing their opponents plenty of problems considering that Jonathan Cantillana, Tamer Seyam and Oday Dabbagh are all in double figures in terms of goals scored for their country.

Cantillana is one of three players without a domestic club to have been named in Daboub's squad, while Abdelhadi Yassin, Amid Mahajna and Alaa Aldeen Hassan have held onto their places despite plying their trade in the Israeli Premier League.

Lebanon possible starting lineup:
Khalil; Zein, Shour, El Zein, Al-Hayekl; Tneich, Ayoub; Saad, Maatouk, Jradi; Darwiche

Palestine possible starting lineup:
Hamada; Al-Batat, Hamed, Mhagna, Termanini, Khalil; Seyam, Jaber, Yameen, Abu-Alfa; Aldeen

We say: Lebanon 1-1 Palestine

The last three meetings between these two allied nations have ended as draws, and we would not be surprised to see them share the spoils once again on Thursday.

Although there is plenty at stake given that both countries will likely be targeting second place behind Australia in Group I, the game may have a slightly hollow feeling given current affairs off the pitch in the Middle East, meaning that both sets of players may be content to avoid defeat.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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