After qualifying to the third round of the world cup qualifiers, Lebanon is looking to strengthen the squad with new players from abroad. Some potential new names are getting close to represent the cedars.

One of those names is Gibran Lajud, Mexican-born goalkeeper. The 27-year-old represented Mexico in the youth teams and in a single friendly with the senior national team.

He started his career at mexican club Club Tijuana in 2014-15 and remained there until the end of 2019-20 after 152 appearances. He joined Club Santos Laguna this season but failed to start in any game.

The only problem that might stand in the way between Lajud and the Cedars is when he acquired his Lebanese ID. He cannot switch FIFA nationalities unless he had dual citizenship before he started his international career. That’s why Jeromino Amiouni couldn’t represent Lebanon a couple of years back.

In less than two months, Lebanon will start the final round of the Asian Qualifiers against UAE coached by Bert van Marwijk, the finalist of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Meanwhile, who will lead the Lebanese national is still unclear. The Lebanese Football Association officials haven’t announced officially that they are looking to replace Jamal Taha. However, according to sources from within the federation, the priority is to have a foreign coach in charge of the Cedars.

Alot of false rumours were spread in the last couple of days, including that the LFA has contacted the french coach Claude le Roi. A source close to the federation have informed Fa Lebanon that Jamal Taha may stay in case there is no suitable replacement. Jamal Taha still have the support of some really important players. Fa Lebanon have also been informed that there is a lobbying asking for a return of the Romanian coach Liviu Ciobotariu.

Yesterday, Jamal Taha won his second game as Lebanon’s coach to qualify to the 2021 FIFA Arab Cup in December. What can we learn from this game?

1- Our 7th win against an african national team

Yesterday’s 1-0 win against Djibouti was our 7th win against an african national team. In total, we have played 30 games against such opponents. We also were able to keep 8 cleansheets.

2- Our first ever win in Doha

Even though we played alot in Doha, exactly 16 games, yesterday was the first time we come home with a win. In the previous 15 matches, we only drew 4 times. It’s also our third cleansheet in the Qatari capital.

3- El Helwe’s 9th and Haidar’s 7th

Yesterday’s lone goal was scored by Hilal El Helwe with an assist from Mohammad Haidar. This was El Helwe’s 9th international goal and Haidar’s 7th assist.

4- Mehdi’s 19th

Yesterday, Mehdi Khalil kept his first international clean sheet in 2021. In his 47 games with the national team, he kept 19 clean sheets, twice as much as his nearest competitor.

5- Lebanon’s first ever game with VAR

Since the impelmentation of this technology in 2018, Lebanon has never played a game where it was adopted. It was a good experience before the third round in September where all the games will have VAR.

On 23 of June, Lebanon will face Djibouti for the first time ever in the 2021 Arab Cup qualifiers. In our 81-year history, Lebanon has faced 60 opponents in 329 games.

In the 60 first encounters, we won 27 times, lost 20 and drew 13. In those 60 matches, we faced 11 African opponents. Lebanon was victorious only once, against Somalia in 2006. Half of the other 10 matches ended in a loss.

In addition to Somalia, the Cedars also faced Mauritania for the first time, in the 2009 Arab Nations Cup qualifiers in 2006. Djibouti will be our only debut opponents in an Arab Nations Cup qualifiers other than the two national teams mentioned earlier.

We faced three other national team for the first time during an Arab Nations Cup and they are Iraq (1964, 0-1 loss), Bahrain (1966, 6-1 win) and Yemen (2002, 4-2 win).

In 2017, we faced our 60th opponent in history, in a 2-1 away win against Malaysia. Before that, we scored in 6 successive debuts. During our history, we had 2 similar streaks in debut matches, each of them ending after the 8th game.

Other than the prize money, the match against Djibouti will be a historic encounter. Hopefully, we can come back from Doha with a win!

In the first qualification match-up for the 2021 Arab Cup, Sudan won against Libya 1-0 to confirm their spot in the fourth group.
Mohammad Abdelrahman scored the winner via a penalty in the 15th minute.
Lebanon will need to win vs Djibouti on 23 June in order to reserve their place in that same group.

Young Cedars have some thrilling games in the next couple of days.

The U-16’s will participate in an International Friendly Tournament in Armenia. They will face three opponents: Armenia on June 20, Armenia U-15 on June 22, and Kyrgyzstan on June 24.

It will be a good test for the coaching staff and the squad ahead of two important regional tournaments: the U-16 Arab Cup in Morocco this summer, and the U-16 West Asia Federation Championship in October.

The U-20 will have the most complicated task. They will participate in the U-20 Arab Cup in Egypt. They will face two strong contenders: the title holders Senegal on June 21, and the West Asian champions Iraq on June 24, then Lebanon will face Comoros on June 27.

The U-23 will host two friendlies in Beirut. Syria will arrive to Beirut for two games on July 3 and 6.

The U-23 are preparing for the U-23 AFC Championship qualifiers which will be played in the last week of October.