Football team regroups, new players recalled

AMMAN —  As 2025 ushers in the resumption of World Cup qualifiers, football fans will switch focus this month from local competitions to the national team’s agenda for Round 3/Group B matches for the 2026 World Cup.

The squad regrouped as of Sunday with Moroccan coach Jamal Sellami recalling a host of new players headed by U23 team star goalie Antwan Awad to finalise the lineup ahead of upcoming matches. Jordan is slated to play Palestine on March 20 and South Korea on March 25 before facing Oman and Iraq in the last group qualifiers in June.

The squad will continue their current training camp in Amman until the weekend before the coach finalizes the lineup for the training camp in Qatar later this month, which will include a series of friendlies.

In the last qualifiers in November, Jordan held Iraq 0-0 and Kuwait 1-1 to drop to third in the group, after Palestine drew 1-1 with South Korea and Iraq beat Oman 1-0. Earlier, Jordan held Kuwait 1-1, beat Palestine 3-1, lost 2-0 to South Korea and beat Oman 4-0.

The coach’s  defensive tactics and replacements were the main points under scrutiny and have come under fire from analysts after the last two qualifiers. Observers critiqued the team’s performance underlying that the individual efforts guided the squad while pointing out that reserve players should be given more playing time as they could not convert to goals when replaced too late in the matches.

Recalling players to test out readiness and expand the base of the national team was seen as crucial after the injury list lately included start strikers Montpellier’s Mousa Ta’mari, Yazan Nu’eimat, Ali Alwan, Noor Rawabdeh and  Yazeed Abu Laila.

18 Asian nations are playing in three groups in home and away format with the top two from each group advancing directly to the World Cup while the rest will play Round 4 in two groups with group leaders advancing and a possible ninth team advancing through intercontinental play-offs.