National team leaves for AFC U-23 Championship Group B qualifiers

AMMAN — Jordan’s U-23 football squad leaves for the UAE on Tuesday to play Group B qualifiers for the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship in Qatar.

The event has again undergone more changes after Turkmenistan pulled out. The four-team qualifiers, which will be held at Al Qattara Stadium in Al Ain from May 16-24, will see Jordan play Pakistan on May 16, Kyrgyzstan May 18 and Kuwait May 20.

The qualifiers had earlier been set to take place at Lahore’s Punjab Stadium in Pakistan starting March 23, but were postponed due to security concerns. They were then set to start on April 2 but were indefinitely postponed prompting the Jordan Football Association (JFA) to restart the Jordan Professional League and local agenda as the date was still undecided. 

“By changing the agenda three times already, the AFC has made our task difficult and we are not in ideal mode,” head coach Jamal Abu Abed underlined. 

“It has been difficult for clubs and the JFA had organised timely training camps to help the line-up be ready.” 

With the latest date, it has again been difficult to regroup as the League just ended this weekend, and both Jazira and Wihdat players are on duty with their teams in the AFC Cup. The JFA earlier announced holding the upcoming Jordan Cup without U-23 players.

In preparation for the U-23 Group B qualifiers, Jordan held 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 drew 2-2. 

The winners of Groups A, C, D, E, F, G, H, I and J have been determined and along with the winners of Group B and five best second-placed teams from all groups will join hosts Qatar at the AFC U-23 Championship, with the 16-team competition also serving as Asia’s qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.