U-16 football team wraps up local friendlies ahead of Asian qualifiers

AMMAN — The U-16 national football team is finishing a series of local friendlies this week as they prepare for the 2016 AFC U-16 Asian Championship Group B qualifiers alongside Nepal, Oman and Kyrgyzstan set for September 16-20 in Kyrgyzstan.

The squad will next play Qatar in a friendly in Doha on September 9 ahead of the qualifiers after playing only four official friendlies losing 3-2 and 4-2 to the UAE, and also 3-2 to Palestine before defeating them 2-0. 

Coach Abdulla Qitati, who took over after Jordan had a disappointing last place finish at the 5th West Asian Championship in Amman, said results were not as important as amending any gaps and maximising team preparedness. He added “friendlies helped boost team morale” after Jordan failed to score a single win and finished bottom of the table after losing 1-0 to the UAE, 5-0 to Iraq, 1-0 to Palestine, before tying Saudi 2-2 in the West Asian event.

Locally, they played the youth teams of top clubs beating Shabab Urdun 2-1 and losing to Baqaa 1-0 and 2-1, and beating them 2-0. 

They also beat Yarmouk 4-1 and drew 1-1 as Qitati underlined “the importance of getting into the routine of Asian competitions and all the squad being ready to play every 48 hours”.

India will host the 2016 AFC U-16 championship with a total of 45 nations including the hosts participating in the qualifiers, and the draw seeding based on the rankings from the last edition in 2014 won by North Korea. The 45 nations were divided into two qualifying zones — West Zone with 24 teams and East Zone with 21 teams. Eleven group winners and four best second-placed teams will qualify for the finals, with hosts India receiving an automatic qualification (total 16 teams). In case India finishes top of its qualifying group or among the four best second-placed teams, the next (5th) second best placed nation will qualify for the final competition.

Jordan was eliminated from the 2014 AFC U-16 qualifiers held in Amman after finishing last in Group D. Jordan lost 2-1 to Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia and drew 4-4 with Syria.