U-19 team to start week-long training camp in Germany

AMMAN — Jordan’s women’s football team has started a week-long training camp in Germany where they are set to play a series of friendlies starting Wednesday in preparation for Group A Asian Championship qualifiers which will be held in Amman in November.

Jordan will face India, Lebanon and Uzbekistan.

The squad hopes to qualify to the finals for the second time after Jordan was the first Arab team to qualify to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-19 Women’s Championship finals in 2007. 

The team held a camp in Alexandria in July where they played one match and also played the senior squad that is also preparing for the Asian Games competition. 

The men’s Olympic football team is also preparing for the Asian Games qualifiers as well as the 2016 Olympic qualifiers set for March 2015. 

As clubs who had promised to cooperate and release players have not stuck to their agreements, Wihdat Chairman and Football Association competitions committee head Tareq Khoury noted many officials had advised against competing in the Asian Games with the team’s current status.

Coach Jamal Abu Abed has tried his best to prepare the line-up which finished second at the Palestine International Championship. They are now set to play the Uzbek team in Amman on August 30.

Earlier this year, the team hosted the England C squad in a historic match, losing 1-0. The team held Iran 2-2 and 1-1, held Kuwait 1-1 twice and Qatar 0-0. 

The women’s football teams have a full agenda this year. Earlier this season, the senior squad had a tough time at their first Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s 2014 Asian Cup in Vietnam where the Kingdom was the only Arab team to have ever qualified to the premier women’s football competition in the AFC region, and was one of eight qualifying teams.

Jordan lost to world champs Japan 7-0 after losing to Australia and hosts Vietnam 3-1 in Group A. The top two teams from each group and the best third-placed team qualified to the 2015 Women’s World Cup in Canada.

This year, Jordan regained the West Asian Football Championship title with an unbeaten streak. With Iran, Lebanon as well as two-time champs and titleholders UAE missing the event, Jordan beat Bahrain 5-0, Qatar 7-0 and Palestine 10-0.

Jordan, now 52nd in FIFA rankings and the 12th ranked Asian team and the best Arab team on the list, had won the West Asian title twice in 2005 and 2007, but lost the title in 2010 and 2012 to the UAE.

On the other hand, the U-16 team will play in Group B Asian Championship qualifiers in Bangladesh in October that includes Bangladesh, Iran, India, the UAE and Qatar. 

In 2013, the girls’ U-16 squad was eliminated from the AFC finals after qualifying for the first time, while the U-14 girls team retained the U-14 West Asian Championship title after an unbeaten streak that saw them beat Bahrain 4-0, Qatar 7-0, Palestine 5-0 the UAE 3-0.

Jordan will host the 2016 U-17 Women’s World Cup and is now gearing up to implement executive plans to prepare four stadiums as well as 16 practice fields. Jordan beat bids from Uruguay, South Africa, Ireland and Bahrain.