Jordan takes on Australia in Asian U-19 qualifiers

AMMAN — Jordan plays Australia on Sunday in their second match at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-19 Women’s Championship 2017 qualifiers in Nanjing, China.

With only the top team from each group moving to the championship in China in 2017, Jordan has a tough task needing to beat Group A leaders Australia who are heavily favoured after they scored a 16-0 win over the Northern Marianas Islands in their opening match. Jordan is second in the group after beating the Northern Mariana Islands 4-0.

The top four teams of the 2015 AFC U-19 Women’s Championship — champions Japan, North Korea, South Korea and China — received a direct qualification to the tournament leaving the 14 teams above to battle it out in the qualifiers. The winner from each group (total four teams) will qualify to the finals (eight teams in total).

The participating nations are:

Group A: Australia, Jordan and Northern Mariana Islands.

Group B: Uzbekistan, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong and Tajikistan.

Group C: Thailand, Myanmar, Palestine and Kyrgyzstan.

Group D: Iran, Vietnam and India.

Also on Sunday, Iran and Vietnam play for the qualifying berth from Group D after India were eliminated. Uzbekistan became the first side to qualify for the AFC U-19 Women’s Championship after topping Group B while Group C will play its matches starting December 20.

Jordan had qualified as the only Arab team in 2007, but in 2014, Jordan was eliminated in qualifiers for the 2015 AFC U-19 Women’s Championship. 

Similarly, this year, the U-16  women’s national football team failed to advance past Group A qualifiers for the 2017 AFC U-16 Women’s Championship. The team also failed to qualify in 2015 after qualifying in 2013.

The U-17 team participated in the Kingdom’s inaugural appearance in the U-17 World Cup where they lost in the first round.