Jordan U-23 football team gets tough Asian draw

AMMAN — Jordan’s national U-23 football team was drawn in a tough Group B alongside Australia, Iraq and Kuwait as the draw for the 5th Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Championship was held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on the weekend.

The June 1-19 event will bring together the qualifying teams playing in four groups with Iran, Qatar, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan in Group A. Titleholders South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia in Group C. Japan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Tajikistan in Group D.

Jordan booked the qualifying spot from Group F qualifiers as 39 teams played for 15 spots to join hosts Uzbekistan in the championship which will be held in Central Asia for the first time. 

It will be the 5th time for Jordan in the Asian U-23 championship. In 2014, Jordan finished third; in 2016, it reached the quarter-finals; in 2018, Jordan was knocked out of Round 1; and in 2020, it reached the quarter-finals.

On the regional scene, Jordan won 2021 West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) U-23 Championship title after they beat hosts Saudi Arabia in the final.  In 2015, Jordan was eliminated in the group stages of the first edition of the event won by Iran, who later moved to the Central Asian Football Association. 

On the other hand, the senior national team is also preparing for another stage of qualifying to get to the 2023 Asian Cup after an early exit from the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

The squad last played two friendlies as they beat 110th ranked New Zealand 3-1 in a friendly in Abu Dhabi and also beat South Sudan 2-1 before wrapping up their training camp in the UAE.

In the team’s earlier friendlies, Jordan beat world 113th ranked Kosovo 2-0, 84th ranked Uzbekistan 3-0, 154th ranked Malaysia 4-0 and 90th ranked Bahrain 2-1. The team lost to 95th ranked Belarus 1-0 and to 87th ranked Haiti 2-0. Despite some wins, observers noted the team was not playing better-ranked sides to determine its competitive readiness.

Jordan last stayed at 90th in the latest FIFA Rankings, holding 13th spot in Asia, and still lagging behind relatively uncompetitive Asian teams compared to their best ranking of 37th in 2004.  Iran leads Asian standings followed by Japan, Korea, Australia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Iraq, China, Oman, Uzbekistan and Bahrain.

The squad ended 2021 on a good note after an impressive showing in the FIFA Arab Cup — Qatar 2021 which was organised by FIFA and included 16 teams from Africa and the Middle East returning to the competition after a 9 year break. 

Looking back at the Jordan’s best performance, 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 the 1986 qualifiers. 

In the 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. They also reached the Asian Cup in 2011, 2015 and 2019.