Shabab Urdun, That Ras resume AFC Cup 2014

AMMAN — Jordan’s two representatives in the 11th Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup 2014 are busy this week as That Ras host Oman’s Suweiq on Tuesday while Shabab Urdun play Bahrain’s Rifaa’   on Wednesday.

Both teams need to get back into the competition and come out with positive results in this week’s matches after Shabab Urdun went down 3-1 to Iraq’s Erbil in their first match and That Ras also lost to Lebanon’s Safaa 1-0.

Suweiq lead Group A after a 3-1 win over Tajikistan’s Ravshan, while Safaa are second and That Ras third and next play Ravshan on March 18.

Erbil lead Group D while Kyrgyzstan’s Alay Osh and Rifaa’  are tied on points after the latter’s opening 0-0 draw with Shabab Urdun who are last in the group and next play Alay Osh. 

Shabab Urdun’s coach Ghanem Hamarsheh underlined that his team, who won the second-tier Asian club competition in 2007, would spare no effort to get back into the competition after their opening defeat.  “We know we have a national duty and are keen to come back with a win despite the difficult task.” 

The former AFC Cup champs were held with Sarih 1-1 in the league this week and seem to lack the form to retain the title this year.  On the other hand, That Ras, who won the Jordan Cup last year, beat Wihdat 1-0 and are now fifth in the league. Team officials were apprehensive of AFC Cup results acknowledging they lacked “competitive experience” in their first Asian experience. 

Last year, Shabab Urdun won the 61st Jordan Professional League for their second time repeating their feat in 2005/06 when they won the title in their first season in the league. So far this season, Shabab Urdun were eliminated by Bahrain’s Al Hidd in the preliminary round of the AFC Asian Champions League. They also lost to Al Hidd in Round 1 of the Arab Football Association Clubs Cup.

The AFC Cup includes 32 clubs from across the continent competing in eight groups with the top two in each group going on to the Round of 16.