U-23 team plays North Korea

AMMAN — Jordan’s U-23 team is set to play North Korea on Tuesday in their first friendly in their UAE camp running until January 7.

After a friendly against Syria was cancelled the team will play North Korea again on December 31 and Uzbekistan on January 6 before concluding its training camp. They will then leave to Qatar on January 10 for the 2nd AFC U-23 Championship serving as Asia’s qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

The Kingdom qualified to the U-23 Championship after it topped Group B qualifiers in Amman. Jordan was drawn in Group D with Australia, the UAE and Vietnam in the 16-team competition set for January 12-30, 2016 in Qatar.

Jordan’s coach Jamal Abu Abed underlined the team was in high spirits before the matches which would help finalise the line-up ahead of the Championship. With players unable to fully regroup in preparation for the Olympic qualifiers, the U-23 team played Iraq losing 1-0 in a friendly after playing local friendlies against Wihdat, Jazira, Faisali and Shabab Urdun during the last two months as Abu Abed worked on defensive and offensive tactics and tried to enhance “team cohesiveness”. 

In the inaugural AFC U-22 Championship (now renamed the AFC U-23 Championship), the U-23 team beat South Korea to take bronze as Iraq beat Saudi Arabia to win the title.

Earlier this year, the team was eliminated from the 1st West Asian Championship. In 2014, the U-23 squad represented Jordan at the Asian Games where it made to the quarter-finals despite a bumpy preparation period amid the busy agenda of the national team and local clubs.