Jordan prepares for training camp; 107th in FIFA Ranking

AMMAN  — The national football team starts a training camp in the UAE on Sunday which comes amid preparations for the 2019 Asian Cup qualifiers kicking off in March.

During the training camp, Jordan is slated to play 121st ranked Georgia in the first match under head coach Abdullah Misfer, from the UAE.

Misfer named 25 players for the current camp which will now end by January 26, instead of the 29, in order for players to go back to their clubs for the restart of the Jordan Professional Football League and Jordan Cup as well as regional competitions for Wihdat and Ahli.

“We are all working together to develop and strengthen Jordanian football. The agendas and line-up of the clubs are a pillar for the base of the national team,” he told the media after announcing details of the line-up and upcoming camp.

“There are many players who deserve to be on the national team and the opportunity will always be there for the best,” he added

The draw for the qualifiers will be held on January 23 when 24 teams that will be divided into six groups with the top two from each group moving on to the finals. The qualifiers will start March 28 and end on March 27, 2018.

The Jordan Football Association appointed Misfer to lead the national squad in its upcoming phase with Jamal Abu Abed as coach and Abdullah Abu Zam’eh as assistant.

Meanwhile, the first FIFA Rankings of 2017 were issued on the weekend with Jordan going down 2 spots to 107th. Jordan is still out of the Asian top 10 trailing Iran (29), South Korea (37), Australia (44), Japan (46), Saudi Arabia (48), Uzbekistan (61), the UAE (64), China (81), Qatar (85) and Syria (96). 

Top 10 world rankings are led by Argentina at No. 1 ahead of Brazil, Germany, Chile, Belgium, Columbia, France, Portugal, Uruguay and Spain. Egypt is the top ranked Arab team at 35, followed by Tunisia 36 and Algeria 39th.

The appointment of Misfer came soon after the termination of contract of Abdullah Abu Zam’eh, after they team’s latest unimpressive results in three friendlies in which they lost to Uzbekistan 1-0, held Iraq and Lebanon to a goalless draws.

Observers have been scrutinising the national team’s plan over the past period as Jordan was eliminated from 2018 World Cup qualifiers. It has been a combination of inconsistent results and five coaches leading the vital qualifying process in crucial qualifiers.

In its latest friendies, Jordan lost to the Moroccan second tier team 2-1, drew 1-1 with Oman, 0-0 with Bahrain, 1-1 with Lebanon and lost to 3-2 to Qatar. The squad’s last tournament was the King’s Cup, an international football tournament organised in Thailand where Jordan beat the UAE 2-1 but lost 2-0 to the host in the final. 

After putting behind elimination from 2018 World Cup qualifiers, the upcoming Asian qualifiers will see group winners and four best runners-up (total 12 teams) advance to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup finals and the final round of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The next best 24 teams from the preliminary stage of the joint qualifiers will compete in a separate competition for the remaining slots (12 slots or 11 slots + one slot for the host) in the 24-team 2019 Asian Cup.