Jordan kicks off Asian Cup qualifiers against Nepal

AMMAN — The national football team plays 168th ranked Nepal in its first qualifier for the 2023 Asian Cup kicking off in Kuwait on Wednesday.

Jordan is in a relatively easy Group A, and the team should ideally have no trouble making it through the qualifiers. However, the squad’s latest performances have not been very convincing. Currently ranked 91st in FIFA’s latest rankings, Jordan kicks off its Group A qualifiers playing Nepal, before facing 159th ranked Indonesia on June 11 and 146th ranked hosts Kuwait on June 14. The top team in addition to the top five second- placed teams will move on to the finals which will be held in 2023. 

The Kingdom’s head coach Adnan Hamad underlined in Tuesday’s press conference that “the target aim was to return the squad to competitive form and be among the continent’s best teams”. 

Hamad, who took over after the dismissal of Belgian Vital Borkelmans following the early exit from the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers needs to guide Jordan through the stage of qualifying to get to the 2023 Asian Cup. Jordan has reached the tournament four times since first taking part in qualifiers in 1972: the highlight was at the 13th Asian Cup in 2004, when it lost to Japan in the quarter-finals and jumped to the best ever FIFA Ranking of 37th. Jordan also reached the Asian Cup in 2011 and 2015 and 2019.

On the world scene, the team was on the verge of qualifying to the 2014 World Cup for the first time and advanced to play then World’s 6th ranked Uruguay in an intercontinental qualifying tie. The World Cup qualifying Round 3 was the furthest Jordan reached in the past seven times since taking part in the 1986 qualifiers.

On the other hand, Jordan’s younger squad, playing in Group B at the 5th Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U23 Championship in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, lost to Australia 1-0 on Tuesday afternoon and failed to qualify to Round 2 as Iraq beat Kuwait 3-1.

In earlier matches, Jordan beat Kuwait 1-0 after tying Iraq 1-1 .  Australia beat Kuwait 2-0 and tied Iraq 1-1. 

It was the 5th time for Jordan in the AFC U23 Championship. In 2014 they finished third, in 2016 they reached the quarter-finals, in 2018 they were knocked out of Round 1, and in 2020 they reached the quarter-finals.

On the regional scene, Jordan won the title of the 2021 West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) U23 Championship in which they beat hosts Saudi Arabia in the final. In 2015, Jordan was eliminated in the group stages of the first edition of the WAFF U23 Championship won by Iran, before they moved to the Central Asian Football Association.