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Jordan plays Asian qualifiers in Group C

By Aline Bannayan - Jan 23,2017 - Last updated at Jan 24,2017

AMMAN  — The draw for the final round of qualifiers for the 2019 Asian Cup was held on Monday and put Jordan in Group C, alongside Vietnam, Afghanistan and Cambodia.

The rest of the groups are:

Group A: Kyrgyzstan, India, Myanmar and Macau.

Group B: North Korea, Hong Kong, Lebanon and Malaysia.

Group D: Oman, Palestine, Maldives and Bhutan.

Group E: Bahrain, Turkmenistan, Taiwan and Singapore.

Group F: Philippines, Tajikistan, Yemen and Nepal.

After putting behind elimination from 2018 World Cup qualifiers, Jordan is hopeful it will overcome the upcoming Asian qualifiers and advance to the Asian finals. Since first taking part in Asian Cup qualifiers in 1972, Jordan reached the Championship three times: the pinnacle was at the 13th Asian Cup, when it lost to Japan in the quarterfinals and jumped to the best ever FIFA rank of 37th in August 2004. They also reached the Asian Cup in 2011 and 2015.

The qualifiers which will start March 28 and end on March 27, 2018 will see teams playing in six groups with group winners and four best runners-up (total 12 teams) advancing o the 2019 AFC Asian Cup finals as well as the final round of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The next best 24 teams from the preliminary stage of the joint qualifiers will compete in a separate competition for the remaining slots (12 slots or 11 slots + one slot for the host) in the 24-team 2019 Asian Cup. 

Teams which already have qualified including Australia, China, Iraq, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Thailand, Uzbekistan and host the UAE.

The Kingdom’s national team, now in its final week of a training camp in the UAE, went down to 107th is the last FIFA Rankings. They are set to play 121st ranked Georgia in the first match under new head coach Abdullah Misfer.

Following the camp, players will head back to clubs for the restart of the Jordan Professional Football League and Jordan Cup, as well as, regional competitions for Wihdat and Ahli.

The national squad last played three friendlies in which they lost to Uzbekistan 1-0, held Iraq and Lebanon to a goalless draws. Earlier it lost to the Moroccan second tier team 2-1, drew 1-1 with Oman, 0-0 with Bahrain, 1-1 with Lebanon and lost to 3-2 to Qatar. The squad’s last tournament was the King’s Cup, an international football tournament organised in Thailand where Jordan beat the UAE 2-1, but lost 2-0 to the host in the final.

Observers have been scrutinising the national’s team’s plan over the past period as Jordan was eliminated from 2018 World Cup qualifiers. It has been a combination of inconsistent results and five coaches leading the vital qualifying process in crucial qualifiers. 

 

The Kingdom had the most memorable World Cup qualifying journey in 2013 when they lost a possible chance to play at the World Cup for the first time and advanced to play then World’s 6th ranked Uruguay in an intercontinental qualifying tie for a place in the 2014 World Cup. It lost the home game 5-0 and held the former World Cup champ 0-0 in the away match. Jordan had never reached that far in World Cup qualifying since taking part in the qualifiers since 1985. Round 3 had been the furthest Jordan reached in the past seven times in the qualifiers.

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