Ahli top Jordan Cup standings

AMMAN  —  The Jordan Cup’s preliminary round’s final phase kicks off Monday with teams striving to score wins to qualify and advance their standings ahead of the quarter-finals. The top four teams from each of the two groups will move to the quarters to which three teams have officially qualified. In Group A, Ahli, who made a comeback to the Jordan Professional League, tops the standings and was the first to qualify after impressive results. Four teams — Jazira, Sarih, Faisali and Hussein — are still in contention for the remaining three slots from the group. Baqaa are last and out of the competition. In Group B, titleholders Wihdat and That Ras top the group and have secured qualification with Manshieh, Ramtha and Shabab Urdun still trailing, and Ittihad Ramtha out of the competition. Most significant results were Ahli beating Faisali 3-0 and Baqaa 1-0, while Wihdat beat Ramtha 3-1, and were held 0-0 with Shabab Urdun who lost 1-0 to That Ras. The Jordan Cup had kicked off on August 2 with only the league teams competing this year. Wihdat beat Baqaa 2-0 in the 32nd Super Cup — the first major competition on the calendar kicking off the 2014/15 season. With one title in their grasp, head coach Abdullah Abu Zameh was quoted by the local media as saying: “Wihdat have a big task this season. We intend to retain the league and cup titles.” The league is set for September 12.