U-23 football squad upbeat; local agenda amended

AMMAN — The Kingdom’s U-23 football team has started the final countdown to the Olympic qualifiers which are now set to kick off on April 2.

The postponement of the qualifiers from March 25 has given the squad some extra time to prepare for Group B
qualifiers which include Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kuwait.

A total of 43 teams will play in 10 groups of five or four teams. The top team from each of the groups in addition to the top second placed team from groups that have five teams will move to the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship which will take place in Qatar in January 2016 from which the top three advance to the 2016 Summer Olympics football tournament in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The team just concluded a training camp in Bahrain where it beat its hosts 2-1 and Bseiteen Club 1-0. The squad also had a training camp in the UAE, where it lost to Iraq 2-1 after it beat North Korea 3-1 and held it 2-2. 

The team’s head coach Jamal Abu Abed expressed satisfaction with the latest camps although initially the team was late to fully regroup as players were on duty with their club teams in the Jordan Professional League, the AFC Cup and the national team. 

The Jordan Football Association (JFA) competitions committee this week announced they would delay the restart of League matches until the Olympic team concludes the qualifiers. The League which was slated to restart on April 2 will now start on April 16, with the Jordan Cup semis slated for June.

“We need to provide the U-23 team with the best possible set-up while also being fair to clubs and national teams. Therefore, the JFA decided to postpone League matches so players would be able to join both squads,” JFA Secretary General Fadi Zureiqat told the media.

Players on Jazira and Wihdat line-ups have AFC Cup matches, while the national team agenda includes qualifiers for the 2019 Asian Cup which will be expanded from 16 to 24 teams, with the qualifying process doubling as part of the qualification for the 2018 World Cup.

Last year, the U-23 team represented Jordan at the Asian Games where it reached the quarters. The team won a bronze medal at the inaugural AFC U-22 Championship after beating South Korea. The event, which has now been renamed the AFC U-23 Championship, saw Iraq beat Saudi Arabia to take the title.

Before the latest matches, the squad hosted Oman, losing 2-1 and winning 1-0. It beat Uzbekistan 2-1, held Iran 2-2 and 1-1, held Kuwait 1-1 twice and drew 0-0 with Qatar. The team finished second at the Palestine International Championship and hosted the England C squad in a historic match, losing 1-0.