Jordan Cup enters knockout stage; league on hold

AMMAN — The 64th Jordan Professional Football League ended its second week but will now take a nearly three-week break as the Jordan Cup Round of 16 and national team agendas take over.

After Week 2, Wihdat are still in the lead after they beat Kufrsoum 1-0. Shabab Urdun beat newcomers Asala 2-0, Sarih upset Ahli 2-0 to go up to fourth and Ramtha beat Faisali to go up to fifth. Jazira were held 0-0 by Hussein Irbid and That Ras drew 1-1 with Baqaa.

In the kickoff of the local football season, Faisali beat league champs Wihdat to win the 33rd Super Cup 1-0. It was a much-needed win for reigning Jordan Cup champs Faisali after a disappointing 7th place finish the league last year.

Wihdat have been league champions for the last two consecutive years. Last year, they also won the Super Cup while Faisali won the Jordan Cup title. Last season, the runner-up and third places went to Jazira and Ramtha. There was also a battle at the other end of the standings where after Ittihad Ramtha dropped to Division 1, former champs Shabab Urdun, Faisali as well as Baqaa could have easily followed suit but eventually Manshieh were relegated.

National team players will regroup to resume Group B qualifiers of the 2018 World Cup doubling as part of the qualification for 2019 Asian Cup. Jordan is set to play Australia and Tajikistan on October 8 and 13, and will play a friendly against Iraq on October 3.

So far, Jordan beat Tajikistan 3-1, scored a 4-0 win over lowly Bangladesh and were held to a disappointing 0-0 draw by Kyrgyzstan.

This weekend , teams are set to play the knockout Jordan Cup Round of 16 where four Division 1 teams — Turra, Balaama, Arabi and Shiekh Hussein — qualified to join Professional League teams. Teams had requested that matches be postponed over the Eid holiday but the scarcity of stadiums — under maintenance and otherwise — has kept the schedule as is. It will be Ahli vs Wihdat, Hussein vs Baqaa, Asala vs Jazira, Turra vs Ramtha, Shabab Urdun vs Balaama, Faisali vs Sarih, Arabi vs That Ras, Kufrsoum vs Sheikh Hussein. Faisali are reigning Jordan Cup champs.