Thailand’s U23 side made history on Wednesday night as they took on Palestine in the first ever competitive match to be played in the Palestinian Territories. The Thais preparations for this Olympics preliminary round match were not ideal as it took the team 17 hours and three border crossings to make it from Bangkok to Palestine via Jordan and Israel. A sell-out crowd, which included AFC President Mohammed Bin Hammam, saw Palestine take the lead on the stroke of halftime thanks to a wondrous left-foot volley from Abdelhamid Abu Habeeb. That goal squared the tie up at 1-1 on aggregate. The writing appeared to be on the wall for Thailand after Theerathon Bunmathan was sent off on 68 minutes. But in near freezing temperatures and despite a snow shower the Thais managed to hold on for the rest of normal time and the 30 minutes of extra time. In a nerve-wracking penalty shoot-out, both sides scored their first five penalties and the tie moved into sudden-death penalties. Palestine’s sixth spot kick was saved by Muangthong goalkeeper Kawin Thamsatchanan, but Thailand also missed their sixth. The tension was now getting to everyone as Palestine missed again. But Pattaya United’s Seeket Madputeh made no mistake as Thailand won 6-5 on penalties. Congratulations to Thailand on their triumph and, more importantly, for playing their part in this historic match.