Kingdom’s U-23 football team plays Oman

AMMAN — The Kingdom’s U-23 football team will play guests Oman again on Wednesday in its final match of the year as the team starts its Olympic qualifying journey in March 2015.

The team lost the first match 2-1 to Oman and hopes to jump back and score a win as head coach Jamal Abu Abed tries to finalise the line-up and team officials as the Jordan Football Association tried to secure several friendlies including against the UAE on January 28 and 30.

Jordan was drawn in Group B alongside hosts Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kuwait in the qualifiers for the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship, which will take place in Qatar. A total of 43 teams entered the qualifiers and were drawn into 10 groups of five or four teams. The top team from each of the nine groups in addition to the top second-placed team from groups that have five teams will move to the championship which also acts as a qualifier to the 2016 Summer Olympics with the top three teams qualifying.

This year, Jordan took bronze in the inaugural AFC U-22 Championship after beating South Korea. The event, which has now been renamed the AFC U-23 Championship, saw Iraq beat Saudi Arabia to take the title.

Earlier this year, the U-23 team represented Jordan at the Asian Games where it reached the quarter-finals despite a bumpy preparation period amid the busy agenda of the national team as well as local clubs. Jordan was impressive as the team topped Group G with three wins: In Round 1
Jordan beat the UAE 1-0 and India 2-0. In Round 2 the team beat Kyrgyzstan 2-0 in extra time. In the quarters, it lost to Thailand 2-0.

Following the Asian Games, the coach recalled other players, including five from the senior national team with the hope of further consolidating the line-up. 

In local friendlies, the team lost to Wihdat 2-0, tied Jazira 1-1 and beat Shabab Urdun 2-1. In regional friendlies, Jordan beat Uzbekistan 2-1, and held Iran, 2-2 and 1-1, Kuwait, 1-1 twice, and Qatar, 0-0. The team finished second at the Palestine International Championship and hosted the England C
squad in a historic match, losing 1-0.