Jazira strive for runner-up in League’s final week

By Aline Bannayan - May 05,2015 - Last updated at May 05,2015

AMMAN — Decisive matches await as the final week of the 63rd Jordan Professional League kicks off Wednesday.

Teams have varying aims this week: Wihdat look forward to their last match against Ramtha on Thursday to celebrate their 14th league title, while Jazira will seek to secure runner-up spot two points behind Ramtha.

The top six are in the battle for advanced positions bearing in mind that the top team gets JD120,000, runner-up JD80,000, third JD35,000, fourth JD15,000, fifth JD12,5000 and sixth JD7,500.

The top two will also represent Jordan in regional events such as the Asian Football Confederation Cup and Asian Champions League.

With that in mind, other battles at the other end of the standings are still also undecided: Ittihad Ramtha have been relegated to Division 1 after failing to score a single win and are likely to be joined either by Shabab Urdun or Manshieh, while results of Faisali and Baqaa as well will decide which teams follow suit.

Thursday’s matches will be a fight for the runner-up spot. Wihdat were held 1-1 by That Ras and this week play Ramtha, while Jazira, who beat Ramtha 2-0 to take second place for now, will take on Sarih at the same time.

On Wednesday, Ahli, who are now fifth and lost to Baqaa 1-0, play Faisali, and Hussein Irbid, who held Manshieh 1-1, play former champs Shabab Urdun. That Ras, who are fourth, play Manshieh, while Baqaa go up against Ittihad Ramtha.

That Ras striker Motaz Salhani is still the top scorer with 11 goals, followed by Ramtha’s Rakan Khalidi, who has nine.

Wihdat have now won two titles in the 2014/15 season after they beat Baqaa to snatch the 32nd Super Cup. The Jordan Cup semis have now been decided to start on May 18 when Faisali play Wihdat and Ramtha face That Ras.

Last season, Wihdat won the league and they beat Baqaa to win the Jordan Cup, while Shabab Urdun defeated That Ras to win the 31st Super Cup. The Jordan Football Association Shield was not held.

Standings

(Previous week’s rank in parenthesis)

Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	PTS
Wihdat (1)	21	13	6	2	36	10	45
Jazira (3)	21	10	8	3	24	15	38
Ramtha (2)	21	10	6	5	26	18	36
That Ras (4)	21	8	9	4	24	15	33
Ahli (5)	21	8	6	7	19	19	30
Sarih (6)	21	8	4	9	20	22	28
Hussein (7)	21	6	8	7	23	28	26
Faisali (8)	21	5	9	7	13	17	24
Baqaa (10)	21	5	9	7	16	23	24
Sh. Urdun (11)	21	5	8	8	15	23	23
Manshieh (9)	21	5	7	9	19	25	22
Itt. Ramtha (12)	21	o	6	15	15	35	6

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