Jordan’s U-23 plays the UAE for Group D lead

AMMAN  —  The U-23 national football team plays the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Sunday in their second match at the 2nd Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Championship currently under way in Doha, Qatar.

The team leads Group D after a vital 3-1 win over Vietnam as Asian powerhouse Australia went down 1-0 to the UAE on the opening day 0f the Championship serving as Asia’s qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. 

 Jordan’s head coach  Jamal Abu Abed will aim to come out with a positive result against  the UAE and secure qualification ahead of their last Round 1 match against Australia in the 16-team competition. 

Jordan aims to advance to the quarterfinals of the event in which they took third place in 2014. 

Observers were elated with the opening win as the team had an uphill task preparing for the championship, with the main challenge being to re-group the team with the busy agenda of the national squad in World Cup and Asian Cup qualifiers as well as the local competition agenda. 

Abu Abed commended the team’s “discipline and commitment”, which has enabled the squad to overcome many obstacles.