Women’s national teams regroup for Asian qualifiers

AMMAN — The women’s U-19 national football team regrouped on Wednesday to start preparations for the Asian Group A qualifiers for the 2017 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-19 Women’s Championship.

The draw put Jordan alongside Australia, Singapore and Lebanon and the Northern Mariana Islands. The top team from each group in the qualifiers set for October 29 moves to the final championship in 2017.

Jordan was also drawn in Group A in the U-16 qualifiers set for August 27 where they will play alongside Thailand, Myanmar, Guam, Laos and Pakistan with the top team advancing to the championship

For the past decade, women’s teams have been competing in all age divisions in the Asian zone. In 2014, the U-19 team was eliminated from Group A qualifiers for the 2015 AFC U-19 Women’s Championship after qualifying as the only Arab team in 2007. The U-16 girls team also failed to qualify to the 2015 AFC U-16 Women’s Championship after qualifying in 2013. 

On the other hand, as Jordan starts the countdown to host the U-17 Women’s World Cup kicking off September 30, the Jordan Football Association is trying to secure more friendlies and training camps.

In 2015, the U-16 boys, and U-19 and were eliminated from their respective Asian qualifiers. The women’s national team also exited the 2015 AFC Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament with a winless record.

The Kingdom had earlier qualified to the AFC U-19 Championship four times. In 2006, the team scored the country’s biggest sporting success when they qualified to the 2007 FIFA Youth World Cup after reaching the semis and eventually finishing fourth at the Asian U-19 Championship. They exited the group stages in 2008 and 2010 and reached the quarters in 2012. Jordan failed to qualify in 2014 when they exited Group B qualifiers in Amman. 

Also last year, the U-23 team exited the 1st West Asian Championship but it was impressive in early 2016, when it reached the quarter-finals of the AFC U-23 Championship when it lost 1-0 to South Korea and failed to join the top four and a possible Olympic slot with the continents top three advancing to the Olympic Games football tournament in Rio de Janeiro. 

In 2014, the U-23 squad had similar circumstances when it represented Jordan at the Asian Games. It made it to the quarter-finals despite a bumpy preparation period amid the busy agenda of the national team, as well as, local clubs. Now most of the recalled national team players are from this core group.