”What was your most important goal defense?” I asked Omar.
“The most important goal defense in my journey was in the game of Palestine and the Philippines at the AFC 2014, the hard work on defense won us the AFC Challenge Cup Championship.” He replied. Omar remembers that the lights surrounding the field were very bright, but he also considered the possibility of him being just extremely tired.” We won the AFC Challenge Cup. It was not my biggest career save, but to me it was the most important.” Said the Kuwaiti-Palestinian football player.
Reaching out to Omar and his agents was a huge task , he was very difficult to contact especially since I am not a major reporter from any major company. I am just a student. His public relations team also kept on barring my attempts to speak with Omar on the phone. However, after all the efforts, it finally paid off. Omar apologized saying he was never a superstar and said he wanted to talk to me via Skype.
Omar is very calm and has a very bright character around him. He smiles a lot . He seems like a very personable person, but he also seems to not talk that much especially about his personal life and story. Although he is Kuwaiti-Palestinian, he is very fluent in his use of the English language after moving to and growing up in Peachtree City in Georgia, USA since he was seven. He has blonde hair, which is also very unique for his race. Still, he is half American so the blonde is not a miracle of nature, it was still in his genes.
Being born in Kuwait to a Palestinian-Jordanian father and an American mother on the 10th of December, year 1983, Omar was a very quiet kid. He never went to school until his family moved to Peachtree City. Omar grew up in a bad time in Kuwait during the First Gulf War in around the 1990’s.
“Why did you start playing football?” I asked Omar.
“ It was my very first sport. I was a scrawny kid, you know. I was already six foot three when I was 14. I really wanted to start playing sports to look better, so I played youth soccer as a member of AFC Lightning Football Club.” He answered.
Omar was a relatively a tall kid who seemed to have no skills at first glance. When he and his family first came to Peachtree City in Georgia, he was very skinny which made him a huge target for immigrant bullying especially since he came from a Middle-Eastern gulf country. He remembers going to school every single day sweating profusely because he was scared of whatever his classmates would say about him. He would not escape every time he was told something, but he was scared that one of those days, he would be called something that he would never be able to accept.
“I have been called many things, but what I hated the most was being called a loser,” said Omar.
Accepting being a loser meant that he would just take the beating every single time, something that Omar’s brain was not ready to accept even at such a young age. Growing up as a very young child in a chaotic nation like the 1990’s Kuwait, Omar learned to be strong in mind, body, and soul.
“As a 14 year old teenager, I remember my 7-year old kid self and I hated Kuwait at that time. Now that I think about it, I guess I was just scared to die.” He added.
Omar remembers the bombs exploding and guns blazing all over their town in Kuwait. As a 7-year old kid, it was not something that children or even adults would normally hear on a daily basis. It was horrifying and shocking for Omar. He and his family would keep on moving around the town to avoid being in the middle of gunfights. However, their family eventually decided to escape Kuwait and move to the US after their house was bombed and both his parents almost died.
“Why is the AFC Championship goal defense the most important goal of your life?” I asked Omar.
“I had a good feeling about it. Most of the audience members during that game were Philippine nationals. The pressure was on. However, the way the Philippine audience gave us a standing ovation by the end when we won the game it gave me hope that I could still save Palestine and Jordan from sinking.” He replied.
Realizing that the Philippine audience has just recognized the Palestinian team’s display of hard work and teamwork to bring home the trophy, Omar knew he was able to make the world take notice of Palestine not as a country of war, but as a country of normal people living normal lives just like everybody else. At that point, Omar knew that even just for that moment, people all over the globe who were watching the game were somehow appreciative of Palestine as a nation of hard working and friendly people. He was very proud of himself after making his father’s home country proud, something that he said he would never forget until he dies.
Omar believes that football is not just a sport, but rather a way of life for many people. As a young professional footballer, he was never able to play for Kuwait, Palestine, or Jordan. However, when he joined the Palestinian National Team in 2007, he was cheered on and accepted like a brother by the Palestinians, something that deeply touched his heart.