Sports

AMMAN — The U-23 national men’s team lost to Qatar 2-1 in their second match at the West Asian Championship in Doha on Saturday.

The team left Amman over the Eid holiday to play the inaugural event in Group A alongside hosts Qatar, Palestine and Yemen.

Iran, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain will play in Group B while the UAE, Oman and Syria are in Group C. The team beat Yemen 3-1 in its opening match. The Kingdom will next play Palestine on October 6.

AMMAN — The Kingdom’s U-19 football team lost to Kuwait 2-1 in the Asian Football Association (AFC) U-19 qualifiers on Friday.

Jordan is playing in Group E alongside host Iran and Nepal with group winners and best second-placed teams booking a slot to the 2016 AFC U-19 Championship set for Bahrain.

The top-four sides of the U-19 championship advance to the FIFA U-20 World Cup. Jordan next plays Iran on October 4.

AMMAN — Jordanian trail runner Salameh Al Aqra participated in the 100km Ultra-Trail Cape Town race on Saturday in South Africa. Aqra finished the race in the 19th position out of 40 runners.

The race was won by South African Christiaan Greyling, followed by fellow countrymen Jock Green and Johnyy Young.

MADRID — Cristiano Ronaldo surpassed the 500-goal mark and Real Madrid hailed him as the club’s all-time leading scorer on Wednesday, while Manchester United and Manchester City rebounded from opening losses to remain in contention in the Champions League.

Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus also won their matches in the European competition and remain in a good position after two rounds of group stage matches.

Ronaldo scored his 500th and 501st goals in Sweden, passing Raul’s mark of 323 goals according to the Spanish club, which counts a goal that has officially been awarded to Pepe. UEFA said the players are still level at 323.

“I’m very happy,” Ronaldo said. “First of all because the team won. But I won’t lie to you. I really wanted to beat Raul’s record.”

Ronaldo said Raul had sent him a message of congratulations.

The Portuguese forward took his Champions League record tally to 82 goals, five more than Lionel Messi.

“We are happy with Cristiano Ronaldo’s goals,” defender Alvaro Arbeloa said. “It’s incredible what he’s doing. He is a legend in Real Madrid. It seems there is no limit to what he can do.”

Here is a look at Wednesday’s Champions League matches:

Group A

Ronaldo ensured Real Madrid kept their share of the Group A lead, along with Paris Saint-Germain.

The Portugal forward scored in the 29th and 90th minutes against Malmo, which played with 10 men from the 78th minute as left back Yoshimar Yotun was sent off with a second yellow card.

Swedish police said 20 Madrid supporters were detained for disorderly conduct before the match.

PSG eased to a 3-0 win at Shakhtar after defender Serge Aurier scored a goal and set up another.

The Ivory Coast right back headed in PSG’s opener in the seventh minute and served up a corner kick for David Luiz to make it 2-0 in the 23rd minute.

PSG sealed victory when Zlatan Ibrahimovic unleashed a shot that ricocheted off Shakhtar captain Darijo Srna and flew into the net as an own goal in the 90th minute.

Group B

All four Group B teams are now level on three points after Manchester United defeated Wolfsburg 2-1 in England and CSKA Moscow edged PSV Eindhoven 3-2 at home.

Juan Mata scored one goal and set up another as United rallied to win its first group match. Daniel Caligiuri put Wolfsburg ahead after four minutes, but Mata won and converted a penalty to equalise before halftime and Chris Smalling slotted the ball past Diego Benaglio to seal the win in the 53rd minute.

In Russia, Seydou Doumbia scored twice as CSKA held off a second-half comeback by PSV. CSKA led 3-0 at halftime but PSV bounced back with two goals from Maxime Lestienne and had chances to level the score late.

Group C

Benfica moved into a comfortable position atop Group C with the surprise 2-1 win at Atletico Madrid, opening a three-point advantage after two matches.

Benfica have six points and Atletico have three, while Galatasaray and Astana, who drew 2-2 in Kazakhstan earlier Wednesday, have one point each.

Atletico Madrid went ahead with Angel Correa in the 23rd minute, but Argentine midfielder Nicolas Gaitan equalised in the 36th minute and Goncalo Guedes put the Portuguese champions ahead in the 51st minute. Brazilian World Cup veteran goalkeeper Julio Cesar played well to keep the hosts from recovering.

There were three own goals in the match in Kazakhstan, including Astana’s 89th-minute equaliser. It was the first game in the main stages of the Champions League to be held in the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan, which has been considered part of Europe for football purposes since 2002.

Group D

Juventus and Manchester City cast aside their domestic woes to pick up important wins in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Juventus stayed ahead in Group D by defeating Sevilla 2-0 in Italy, while City’s first victory came at Borussia Moenchengladbach.

Alvaro Morata equaled a Juventus club record by scoring in a fifth successive Champions League match to put last year’s runner-up three points clear atop the group. Simone Zaza sealed the victory in the end.

Manchester City moved level with Sevilla after Sergio Aguero scored a last-minute penalty to help the Premier League side snatch a dramatic 2-1 victory in Germany.

Aguero was fouled by United States defender Fabian Johnson in the 89th minute and sent ‘Gladbach keeper Yann Sommer the wrong way to secure the win.

Moenchengladbach was playing European Cup football at home for the first time in 37 years.

AMMAN — More than 1,500 runners, mostly representing schools in the Kingdom, will take part on Friday in the 4.2km Amman International Kids Marathon.

The marathon, organised by Run Jordan, is divided according to age groups and aims at promoting sports as a lifestyle. The age categories included students between 6 and 8 years, 9 and 11, 12 and 14.

Race director Lina Al Kurd told The Jordan Times that the enthusiasm and dedication is unmatched.

“We are happy and absolutely amazed by the dedication of students and young runners who are devoting themselves to better living by adopting sports as part of their daily lives. We look at it as a major event for families and their children in addition to schools who are building a generation of runners,” she said.

“The race will start in front of the 5th football pitch inside King Hussein Park and will go up a long incline and continue towards King Hussein Mosque. Runners will pass by the Children’s Museum and the Royal Automobile Museum and then they will descend down a hill towards the car exit and go towards the entrance gate,” she added.

The celebration area and awards ceremony will take place inside the area where the Marathon Village is located.

“We are trying to make this a family event with activities fit for the whole family members. HRH Prince Firas, Run Jordan chairman, has always stressed on the benefits of running in the marathon, labelling it a family fun day,” she said.

“The huge number of participants shows that there are a lot of awareness from the runners and their families about sports and the culture of healthy living. We hope everyone will enjoy their time,” she added.

Meanwhile, the Samsung Amman Marathon kicks off on October 9 with the participation of thousands of runners in the 42km, the 21km half marathon and 10km fun run. 

The event is launched under the theme “Run to the Heart of the City of Amman” and will have a new route for the 10km fun run which will start at Princess Alia Street: Al Hussein sports City-Gate 1, down to Arar Street ending at the finish line at the Hashemite Square — Gate 1.

AMMAN — The Kingdom's U-19 football team starts the Asian Football Association (AFC) U-19 qualifiers when they take on Kuwait on Friday.

Jordan will play in Group E alongside hosts Iran and Nepal with group winners and best second-placed teams booking a slot to the 2016 AFC U-19 Championship. The top-four from the U-19 Championship advance to the FIFA U-20 World Cup.

The U19 team regrouped earlier this year. It played a series of local friendlies and held a training camp in Turkey. Coach Islam Diyabat noted "friendlies in the past month helped boost our competitive edge and gave the squad much needed confidence".

Bahrain will host the 2016 AFC U-19 Championship with a total of 43 teams including the host competing in the qualifiers divided in two zones: the West Zone with 25 teams and the East Zone with 18 teams. Ten group winners and five best second-placed teams will qualify for the finals while host Bahrain received an automatic qualification (total 16 teams). The qualifiers will run until October 6.

If Bahrain finishes top of its qualifying group or one of the five second best-placed teams, the next (6th) second placed team will qualify for the final competition.

South Korea, which beat Iraq in the 2012 final has won the U-19 championship a record 12 times since it started in 1959. Qatar won the last edition in 2014.

The Kingdom previously reached the AFC U-19 Championship four times. In 2006, Jordan made headlines and achieved the country’s biggest sporting success when it qualified to the 2007 FIFA Youth World Cup in Canada after reaching the semis and eventually finishing fourth at the Asian U-19 Championship. It 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.

AMMAN — Jordan dropped 8 spots to 99th in the latest FIFA World Rankings issued on Thursday as the team readies to host Iraq on Saturday.

Argentina leads the top 10, followed by Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Columbia, Spain, Brazil, Wales, Chile and England. 

Jordan is 10th in Asia trailing leaders Iran, who are followed by South Korea, Japan, Australia, the UAE, Uzbekistan, China, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Jordan is readying to play Asian champs Australia on October 8 in its fourth Group B qualifier of the 2018 World Cup in Russia doubling as part of the qualification for 2019 Asian Cup. Forty teams are playing home and away in a round-robin format in the current second qualifying round which runs until March 2016. 

Jordan beat Bangladesh 4-0 after a disappointing 0-0 draw with  155th ranked Kyrgyzstan and an opening 3-1 win over Tajikistan. Australia led the group after it beat Tajikistan 3-0, Bangladesh 5-0 and Kyrgyzstan 2-1. Bangladesh held Tajikistan 1-1 after it lost to Kyrgyzstan 3-1.

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

Arsenal and Chelsea had a Champions League night to forget on Tuesday as a Robert Lewandowski hat trick helped Bayern Munich crush Dinamo Zagreb.

And champions Barcelona, with injured icon Lionel Messi watching from the stands, followed up their opening Group E draw at Roma with a stirring come-from-behind 2-1 win against Bayer Leverkusen.

The Germans appeared to have the three points in the bag after Kyriakos Papadopoulos’ header before the break.

But Luis Suarez turned the game around in the final 10 minutes as Sergi Roberto tapped home the rebound after the Uruguayan’s initial effort had been saved.

And the former Liverpool striker thumped home a stunning effort to hand Barca a hard-fought three points, two minutes later.

“We couldn’t play great football, but we had to win the game. We had to show we are the champions,” said Suarez.

There was a sting in the tail as captain Andres Iniesta hobbled off after an hour.

With Roma sent on their way 3-2 by BATE Borisov it left Barca shading Group E.

Jose Mourinho’s return to Porto, the team who the Portuguese guided to the 2004 title, proved an unhappy affair.

Andre Andre’s opener for Porto late in the first half was quickly cancelled out by a superb Willian free-kick, but Maicon’s 52nd-minute header proved to be the difference in this Group G clash played at a rip-roaring pace.

Dynamo Kiev, 2-0 winners over Maccabi Tel Aviv, top the table on goal difference with Chelsea in third.

It was a good performance with two ridiculous mistakes,” said Mourinho.

Stunning result

“The second goal is a really bad mistake. We watch dozens of repetitions of Porto taking corners. I thought we were completely ready for that.

“But apart from that it was a balanced performance. The defenders played well and had no problems, but two ridiculous mistakes and we were punished.”

Arguably the most stunning result of the evening emerged from the Emirates Stadium, where Greek champions Olympiakos shocked Arsenal 3-2 to leave the Gunners stone last in Group F.

The Greeks, ending a 12-match losing run in England, left pointless Arsenal and their Coach Arsene Wenger ashen-faced, and the team’s fans jeering at the final whistle.

After falling behind to Felipe Pardo’s deflected opener, Arsenal equalised through Theo Walcott.

But then a horrendous mistake from goalkeeper David Ospina, selected over regular first choice Petr Cech, allowed a Kostas Fortounis corner to slip through his grasp for an embarrassing own goal.

Alexis Sanchez dragged Arsenal back into it with a second half equaliser, but incredibly the north Londoners imploded again with more slack defending gifting Iceland striker Alfred Finnbogason the winner.

“It is still possible to qualify but it is difficult to swallow losing a game like that,” Wenger said.

“We lost it on a lack of defensive concentration and bad luck. They had four shots on goal and we conceded three goals.

“A goalkeeper [Ospina] can make a mistake. That doesn’t explain that we lose the game. It happened to Petr Cech already this season.”

Beaten in the group curtain raiser in Zagreb Arsenal are now up against it to extricate themselves from the pool stages.

To compound their plight free-shooting Bayern Munich await, the German giants flexing their muscles against  Zagreb.

Bayern top the table, Pep Guardiola’s side cruising towards the knockout stages after Lewandowski’s treble, and goals from Douglas Costa and Mario Goetze steamrollered Dinamo Zagreb 5-0.

“We played in a very concentrated fashion from the start and when you take your goal chances, the game was over after 30 minutes,” said Bayern captain Philipp Lahm.

Poland hot-shot Lewandowski has now scored 10 goals in his last three games after netting five in just nine spectacular minutes of Bayern’s 5-1 hammering of Wolfsburg last Tuesday before claiming two more in Saturday’s 3-0 win at Mainz.

“He’s had an unbelievable week behind him,” admitted Lahm.

Elsewhere, Zenit St Petersburg remained unbeaten with a 2-1 home win over Belgian outfit Gent to top Group H from Valencia, 1-0 winners at Lyon.

AMMAN — Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah heads up a quality field of drivers for the sixth round of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship which will be held in Jordan from October 15-17, according to a statement from the Jordan Rally Media Service.

Attiyah, who leads the championship standings and can secure his 11th drivers title at the Jordan Rally, is one of five drivers travelling in from Qatar.

His strongest challenger is likely to be Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al Rajhi with Abdulaziz Al Kuwari ranked third following his excellent third place finish at the Cyprus Rally last week.

Jordan has a strong contingent of drivers with 2015 National Rally Champion Maruf Abu Samra and the Husam Salem hoping to put pressure on the podium places. The Jordan Rally gets underway on the afternoon of October 15 with a spectator event on the streets of Abdoun.

Following the launch event, the region’s top drivers will take on 20 timed special stages held over two days — Friday and Saturday — through the Jordan Valley and Dead Sea areas.

AMMAN — Jordanian trail runner Salameh Al Aqra is expected to participate in the 100km Ultra-Trail Cape Town race on Saturday in South Africa.

No less than 26 different nationalities have signed up for the race. “I am looking forward to my debut run in South Africa,” Aqra was quoted as saying on the events website.

“And I will be lining up to win the 100km challenge,” he concluded.