League resumes with Wihdat holding on to lead

AMMAN — Wihdat have a good lead heading into Week 18 of the 64th Jordan Professional Football League kicking off on Friday.

Before the league headed to break for national team qualifiers, the titleholders beat Baqa’a 3-0 after a previous 1-0 win over rivals Faisali which put them four points in the lead ahead of their expected easy match against Sarih.

After a 2-0 win over Sarih, Faisali are second on goal difference ahead of their match against That Ras who are 9th after holding Shabab Urdun 1-1.

Ahli are level with Faisali in overall points after a 2-1 win over Hussein Irbid. They next play Baqa’a who have had a bad season and hold the last two spots along with Asala, who next play Kufrsoum. 

Shabab Urdun are fourth and next play Jazira who beat Asala and moved up a spot to 6th. Ramtha are fifth after holding Kufrsoum 1-1 and next play neighbour Hussein Irbid.

With national team players back on club duty after an early disappointing elimination from the World Cup qualifiers following a dismal 5-1 defeat to Australia, Faisali and Wihdat both resume Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup in two weeks. 

Wihdat are third in Group A after a 1-1 draw at home with Turkmenistan’s Altyn Asyr. The Jordanian champs lost an away match against Lebanon’s Al Ahd 3-2 after their opening 2-0 win over Bahrain’s Hidd. 

In Group B, Faisali are second after they were also held 1-1 with Lebanon’s Tripoli. Earlier they beat Iraq’s Naft Al Wasat 2-1 after their opening 0-0 draw with Turkmenistan’s Istiklol Dushanbe. 

So far this season, Jordan Cup titleholders Faisali beat league titleholders Wihdat 1-0 to win the 33rd Super Cup. Apart from conceding the Super Cup, and elimination from the Jordan Cup, Wihdat now have the league title left for grabs. The team has been league champ for the past two consecutive years while Faisali finished at a disappointing 7th place as runner-up and third places went to Jazira and Ramtha. 

Ahli are the surprise team of the league this season. After relegation to Division 1 in 2004 for the first time in their history, they but were back among the Professional League clubs in 2014, and finished 5th in 2015. They have now made it to the Jordan Cup final against Shabab Urdun slated for May 5.

Standings
(Previous position in parenthesis)