Tough draw for Jordan at Asian U-23 Championship

AMMAN — The U-23 national team got a tough draw at the 2nd Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Championship, which also serves as Asia’s qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Jordan will play against Australia, the UAE and Vietnam in Group D in the 2nd edition of the 16-team competition set for Qatar January 12-30, 2016.

Group A includes Qatar, Iran, Syria and China.

Group B includes Saudi Arabia, Japan, North Korea and Thailand.

Group C includes Iraq, South Korea, Uzbekistan and Yemen.

The top two from each group will move to the quarters and the top three of the 16-team competition will qualify to represent the continent at the Olympic Games.

The Kingdom moved to the U-23 championship after it topped Group B qualifiers in Amman as Jordan held Kuwait 3-3, beat Kyrgyzstan 4-0 and Pakistan 5-0 to advance. 

In the inaugural edition, the U-23 team impressed observers when it beat South Korea to take bronze at the AFC U-22 Championship (now renamed the AFC U-23 Championship) as Iraq beat Saudi Arabia to take the title.

Coach Jamal Abu Abed described the draw as “tough”. He added a serious effort was needed to counter the team’s aim of qualifying to the Olympic Games adding that the mere effort of regrouping the line-up was complicated with the national team’s and clubs agendas taking precedence.

“ The AFC U-23 Championship serves as Asia’s qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. We need the support of all concerned so that a full line-up of recalled players attend practice when regrouped,” underlined Abu Abed.

Last week, Jordan was drawn in Group A for the upcoming inaugural West Asian Championship kicking off on September 30 where Jordan will play alongside hosts Qatar, Palestine and Yemen. Iran Saudi Arabia and Bahrain are in Group B while the UAE, Oman, and Syria in Group C. The top team from each group will move on to round 2 alongside the best second placed team.

The draw might have served Jordan making up for an otherwise modest preparation period hampered with no training camps and serious friendlies. Abu Abed noted the Asian and Olympic agenda ahead needed competitive playing experience underlining that the U-23 team squad did not have enough high level friendlies, and a four-nation friendly in Slovakia was cancelled after clubs did not release U-23 players to join training citing the local agenda. 

Jordan’s U-23 squad represented Jordan at the Asian Games where it made it to the quarter-finals despite a bumpy preparation period amid the busy agenda of the national team as well as local clubs. Jordan beat UAE 1-0, India 2-0 and Kyrgyzstan 2-0 in extra time before losing 2-0 to Thailand in the quarters.