Jordan play Lebanon in friendly match

AMMAN — Jordan host Lebanon at 6pm at the Amman International Stadium on Tuesday in the third and last friendly scheduled this month as part of their training agenda for the 2019 Asian Cup qualifiers.

Jordan lost to Uzbekistan 1-0 last week and earlier held Iraq to a goalless draw. Head coach Abdullah Abu Zam’eh hopes his squad will come out with a win as the latest three matches come after the Kingdom dipped to 104th — its lowest 2016 FIFA ranking and dropped out of the Asian top 10. That followed earlier unimpressive results last month where Jordan lost to the Moroccan second tier team 2-1 and held Oman 1-1. They had earlier held Bahrain 0-0, Lebanon 1-1 and lost 3-2 to Qatar. 

“We were the better team against Uzbekistan. There was a marked improvement despite the 1-0 loss which I find unacceptable. However, the past two matches undoubtedly helped boost cohesiveness and that’s our aim for advanced results in the upcoming phase,” Abu Zam’eh told the media.

Observers are scrutinising the plan and path to the Asian qualifiers as the past year saw four coaches take over in less than a year, after Jordan was eliminated from 2018 World Cup qualifiers. The Jordan Football Association entrusted Abu Zam’eh in the interim period and the coach recalled players from the Olympic squad and shifted focus towards a younger line-up that will compete in the Asian qualifiers kicking off in March 2017.

Group winners and four best runners-up (total 12 teams) advance to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup finals and the final round of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The next best 24 teams from the preliminary stage of the joint qualifiers will compete in a separate competition for the remaining slots (12 slots or 11 slots + one slot for the host) in the 24-team 2019 Asian Cup.