Football matches resume after extended break

AMMAN — After a near month-long break, Jordan’s top football teams resume matches in the 63rd Jordan Professional League starting Thursday.

Wihdat still lead with three points, followed closely by Ramtha while Jazira are third. Former Jordan Cup champs That Ras are fourth while Faisali still trail at the lower end of the standings for the first time ever since the League kicked off in 1944. Baqaa, a usual top five finisher, is now 9th after only three wins while former champs Shabab Urdun have also disappointed fans and are 10th.

Ramtha’s Rakan Khalidi, whose injury forced him to miss many League matches, leads the scorers with eight goals while Wihdat’s Mahmoud Zaatara has seven.

The League’s long recess was forced by the agendas of the U-23 and senior national teams as well Wihdat and Jazira’s Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup matches. Many observers criticised the much affected schedule noting it adversely affects teams, player preparedness and strains club budgets further more.

The resumption of the League was prompted by the postponement of the U-23 qualifiers for the second time the Jordan Football Association (JFA) to announce the agenda for Weeks 16 and 17 until the AFC sets a new date and venue. 

“We hope clubs will understand the association’s situation. We tried our best to be fair to the local agenda while giving the U-23 squad all means to be ready for the qualifiers,” JFA Secretary General Fadi Zureiqat told the media after announcing the League’s resumption. 

“The U-23 team has a set agenda and just concluded their training camps. The delay affects them more than anyone else,” Zureiqat said, adding that the qualifiers might be held in mid-April but there was no formal confirmation yet.

In preparation for the U-23 Group B qualifiers against Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kuwait, the team was in high competitive mode after concluding two training camps — beating Bahrain 2-1 and Bseiteen Club 1-0. They also had a training camp in the UAE, where they lost to Iraq 2-1 after they beat North Korea 3-1 and held them 2-2. 

On the other hand, the senior men’s team played two friendlies in the past week, losing 2-1 to Saudi Arabia and 1-0 to Syria. The results of the two friendlies were vital in deciding the team’s position among Asian teams ahead of the draw for qualifiers for the 2019 Asian Cup, with the qualifying process doubling as part of the qualification for the 2018 World Cup.