Jordan plays Kyrgyzstan in Group B qualifier

AMMAN  — Jordan plays Kyrgyzstan on Thursday resuming Group B qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup in Russia doubling as part of the qualification for 2019 Asian Cup as well.

The 7:00pm match was moved to Amman International Stadium after Al Hassan Stadium pitch suffered damage and was ruled unfit to host the qualifier.

Jordan leads the group standings after they beat Tajikistan 3-1 in their opening qualifier in June and since then has not regrouped much apart from hosting Trinidad & Tobago and winning 3-0 in a friendly.

In the latest FIFA World Rankings, Australia is the highest ranked team in Group B at 61, followed by Jordan (92), Kyrgyzstan (156) Tajikistan (158) and Bangladesh (170).

Jordan will next play an away qualifier in Bangladesh on September 8 and Australia on October 8. 

So far, Bangladesh held Tajikistan 1-1 after they lost to Kyrgyzstan 3-1 and Australia beat Kyrgyzstan 2-1. Forty teams are playing home and away in a round-robin format in the current second qualifying round which runs until March 2016.

It has been an inconsistent year for Jordan’s line-up which was led by Briton Ray Wilkins under whom the team failed to advance past the group of the 2015 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup. Ahmad Abdul Qader took over in the transitional phase under whom the team played the first qualifier. However, the Jordan Football Association contracted Belgian Paul Put in July and the team did not regroup for the past two months, until the surprise appointment of assistant coach Abdullah Abu Zameh to replace Abdul Qader raised concerns of the choice of players and preparedness amid the delayed arrival of the coach until only last week.

In its last friendly, Jordan held the U-23 team 0-0 and beat them 3-0. This year, Jordan also played four friendlies holding Kuwait 2-2, Lebanon 0-0, losing 2-1 to Saudi Arabia and 1-0 to Syria. 

Jordan had the most memorable World Cup qualifying journey in 2013 when it lost a possible chance to play at the World Cup for the first time when it advanced to play then World’s 6th ranked Uruguay in an intercontinental qualifying tie for a place in the 2014 World Cup. It lost the home game 5-0 and held the former World Cup champs 0-0 in the away match. Jordan had never reached that far in World Cup qualifying since taking part in the qualifiers as of 1985. Round 3 had been the furthest Jordan reached in the past seven  times in the qualifiers.

In the Asian Cup, Jordan 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 rank of 37th in August 2004. In 2011, Jordan again reached the quarter-finals.