Jordan hosts Trinidad and Tobago in friendly

AMMAN — Jordan's national team plays Trinidad and Tobago on Tuesday in a friendly amid the regrouping agenda for World Cup and Asian Cup qualifiers.

The guest team is ranked 67th in FIFA World Rankings while Jordan  is now at 103rd and is 12th among Asian teams.

The national team recently beat Tajikistan 3-1 in its opening Group B qualifier for the 2018 World Cup expected to be held in Russia, doubling as part of the qualification for 2019 Asian Cup as well.

Jordan is set to play Bangladesh, Kyrgyzstan and Australia in Group B as they seek to advance in both competitions with 40 teams playing home and away in a round-robin format in the second qualifying round which runs until March 2016. 

Jordan's coach Ahmad Abdul Qader who took the helm after the  team failed to reach the quarters of the 2015 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup was content with the latest match and said "beating Tajikistan  was important  and provided the confidence and morale boost in a tough group".

The coach said the upcoming friendly against Trinidad and Tobago would provide a chance for all players to take part and help improve the FIFA ranking as well.

During the past period, the Kingdom's team played four friendlies holding Kuwait 2-2, Lebanon 0-0, losing 2-1 to Saudi Arabia and 1-0 to Syria. 

The Jordanian squad had the most memorable World Cup qualifying journey in 2013 when they lost a possible chance to move to the World Cup finals for the first time. 

The Kingdom had never reached that far in World Cup qualifying since taking part in the World Cup Qualifiers in 1985.

In the Asian Cup, Jordan has reached the championship three times since first taking part in qualifiers in 1972. The pinnacle was at the 13th Asian Cup, when they lost to Japan in the quarter-finals and jumped to the best ever FIFA Ranking of 37th in August 2004. In 2011, Jordan again reached the quarter-finals.