Kingdom’s FIFA ranking slides Jordan to host Iraq

AMMAN — Jordan dropped 8 spots to 99th in the latest FIFA World Rankings issued on Thursday as the team readies to host Iraq on Saturday.

Argentina leads the top 10, followed by Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Columbia, Spain, Brazil, Wales, Chile and England. 

Jordan is 10th in Asia trailing leaders Iran, who are followed by South Korea, Japan, Australia, the UAE, Uzbekistan, China, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Jordan is readying to play Asian champs Australia on October 8 in its fourth Group B qualifier of the 2018 World Cup in Russia doubling as part of the qualification for 2019 Asian Cup. Forty teams are playing home and away in a round-robin format in the current second qualifying round which runs until March 2016. 

Jordan beat Bangladesh 4-0 after a disappointing 0-0 draw with  155th ranked Kyrgyzstan and an opening 3-1 win over Tajikistan. Australia led the group after it beat Tajikistan 3-0, Bangladesh 5-0 and Kyrgyzstan 2-1. Bangladesh held Tajikistan 1-1 after it lost to Kyrgyzstan 3-1.

In the Asian Cup, Jordan reached the championship three times since first taking part in qualifiers in 1972. The pinnacle was at the 13th Asian Cup, when they lost to Japan in the quarter-finals and jumped to the best ever FIFA Ranking of 37th in August 2004. In 2011, Jordan again reached the quarter-finals.