Wihdat hold slim lead as League’s Week 17 starts

AMMAN — Teams are scrambling to gain some points as the 63rd Jordan Professional League’s Week 16 ended and Week 17 kicked off on Monday.

After a near month-long break, Jordan’s top football teams resumed matches which saw leaders Wihdat suffer their second defeat, but kept a slim 3 point margin over Ramtha.

Wihdat lost 1-0 to Manshieh, as Ramtha also lost 3-0 to Hussein. Jazira did not make use of the top two team’s results to jump to second and remained 3rd after they were held 1-1 by Shabab Urdun.

Sarih beat Ittihad Ramtha 1-0 to move to 4th as former Jordan Cup champs That Ras dropped to 5th after a 1-1 draw with Ahli. Faisali remained 8th after tying Baqaa 0-0.

Faisali still trail at the lower end of the standings for the first time ever since the League kicked off in 1944. Baqaa, a usual top five finisher, are now 9th after only three wins, while former champs Shabab Urdun have also disappointed fans in 10th place

Ramtha’s Rakan Khalidi, whose injury forced him to miss many League matches, leads the scorers with eight goals while Wihdat’s Mahmoud Zaatara has seven.

The League’s long recess which served the U-23 and senior national teams agendas has come under much scrutiny from observers noting that it affected teams, player preparedness and strained club budgets further.

Wihdat won the first major competition of the 2014/15 football season after they beat Baqaa 2-0 in the 32nd Super Cup. The Jordan Cup semis will now be played after the League ends as Faisali play Wihdat and Ramtha face That Ras in the semis.

Last season, Wihdat won the League for the 13th time. They also beat Baqaa to win the Jordan Cup while Shabab Urdun beat That Ras to win the 31st Super Cup. The Federation Shield was not held.