Wihdat, Jazira advance to AFC Cup Round of 16

AMMAN — Wihdat and Jazira have advanced to the Round of 16 at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup after completing preliminary round matches in top two group positions.

In Stage 6 matches this week, Jordan Professional League champs Wihdat, remained atop Group A after they beat Oman’s Nahda 4-0 repeating their earlier 3-0 win in Leg 1. 

“Our targets were clear in the competition as we promised our fans to finish on top of the group, and this will be a big push for us in order to continue our good results in the competition and fight for the title,” Wihdat coach Abdallah Abu Zema said on the AFC website.

Wihdat had an impressive run, beating Lebanese hosts Salam Zgharta 3-0 after an earlier 5-1 win. They also held Syria’s Wihda 1-1 after losing 1-0 in Leg 1. They will now prepare for upcoming matches slated to kick off on May 26.

On the other hand, Jazira dropped to second in Group B after they lost 4-0 to Iraq’s Shurta in Doha. 

“The result doesn’t mean that we were bad as we had some good moments in the match,” Jazira coach Issa Turk said on the AFC website. “However, our players made some fatal mistakes which gave the chance to our opponents to score four goals.” 

Jazira, who finished runners-up in the League and participated in the event after two-time AFC Cup champs Faisali declined, had started the event with a streak of 1-1 draws with Bahrain’s Hidd, Shurta and Palestine’s Wadi Ness. They secured moving to the Round of 16 after scoring two wins over Wadi Ness, 2-0, and Hidd, 1-0. 

Wihdat have never won the AFC Cup in the past seven times while it is the first time for Jazira. Earlier this season, Wihdat exited the AFC Asian Champions League (ACL) losing 1-0 to ACL and AFC Cup titleholders Kuwait’s Qadissieh.

This season, 32 clubs from across the continent are competing in the AFC Cup in eight groups with the top two from each group going to the Round of 16. Last season, first time AFC Cup competitors and Jordan Cup champs That Ras exited the Round of 16 while former AFC Cup champs Shabab Urdun exited in Round 1. They were also eliminated by Bahrain’s Hidd in their preliminary round of the ACL.

Jordan’s Faisali won AFC Cup titles in 2005 and 2006, and Shabab Urdun won in 2007.