Players return to club duty after disappointing national team form

AMMAN  — Week 5 of the Jordan Professional Football League kicks off on Friday after a nearly two-week break, while the national team resumed Asian Cup qualifiers.

Players return to club duty after Jordan was held to an inadequate 3-3 draw by lowly Afghanistan after a 4-1 win in Leg 1 qualifiers. They will next play Cambodia on October 14. The draw in the qualifiers followed two other draws in friendlies in which Jordan held Bahrain 0-0 and managed a 1-1 draw with Oman.

It was disappointing for fans and officials. After elimination from the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, advancing to the 2019 Asian Cup should not be a difficult task for Jordan given the limited capabilities of its qualifying Group. However, the team’s current state of affairs has raised lots of eyebrows.

Back on the local scene, Wihdat now leads the league after a 4-1 win over Hussein, who remained last. Wihdat will next play Ramtha who dropped to second after losing 3-2 to Jazira.

Jazira next play Baqa’a who moved up two spots to 7th after their 3-0 win over newcomers Yarmouk. Faisali, who moved up to 4th after a similar 3-0 win over Shabab Urdun, next play That Ras who moved up two spots after they beat Manshieh 4-1.

Ahli moved up to 6th after a 4-1 win over newcomers Aqaba. They will next play Yarmouk while Aqaba play Manshieh. 

So far this season, reigning league and Jordan Cup champs Faisali beat Jazira to win the 35th Jordan Super Cup. Wihdat beat Jazira to win the Jordan Football Association Shield.

Last year, Faisali won their 33rd league title after a four year break and combined it with the Jordan Cup. Ahli beat reigning league champs Wihdat to win the Super Cup, Shabab Urdun beat Faisali to win their second Shield title after they first won in 2007. Sarih and Sahab were relegated and replaced by Aqaba and Yarmouk from the First Division.