Jazira play Wihdat in vital football match; Hussein lead

By Aline Bannayan - Nov 17,2016 - Last updated at Nov 18,2016

AMMAN — The Jordan Professional Football League enters its third week on Friday after a two-week break as the national team regrouped to play three friendlies.

Teams head into Week 3 with Hussein, Manshieh and Jazira in the lead after they scored wins that left titleholders Wihdat trailing in fourth place, while Faisali dropped to 10th.

Hussein and Manshieh lead the pack. Hussein beat That Ras 2-0 and now play last placed Baqa’a, who lost 1-0 to Sarih. Manshieh upset Ahli 2-0 and next play Faisali who were held 0-0 with Ramtha. The latter will next play Shabab Urdun.

Jazira, who beat Shabab Urdun 2-0, moved up to third and next play Wihdat, who were held 1-1 by newcomers Sahab and dropped to fourth. Sarih moved to seventh after their first win and next play Sahab while Ahli play That Ras, who are now 11th.

The season opened with Ahli making history when they beat reigning league champs Wihdat 2-1 to win the 34th Super Cup — the first major competition on the 2016/17 football calendar. Ahli have had a tough journey among top teams after they were relegated to Division 1 in 2004 for the first time ever before making a strong comeback to the Pro League in 2014, finishing 5th before finishing third in 2015/16 in when they were also the best overall team.

Earlier in the season, Shabab Urdun scored a major 5-1 win over Faisali to win the Jordan Football Association Shield — back on the calendar after four years. It was Shabab Urdun’s second Shield title after they first won in 2007.

The Jordan Cup preliminary round is slated to kick off December 4.

Last season, Wihdat retained the title in the final week with Faisali, Ahli, Jazira and Shabab Urdun in top five spots. Sahab and Manshieh were promoted from the First Division.

It was Wihdat’s third consecutive and 15th league title since they moved up to the Professional League in 1975. Faisali beat Wihdat to clinch the Super Cup while it was Ahli, who after years in the backstage, beat Shabab Urdun to win their first Jordan Cup final.

Standings

Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
Hussein(2)	2	2	0	0	4	1	6
Manshieh (4)	2	2	0	0	4	1	6
Jazira (6)	2	2	0	0	3	0	6
Wihdat (1)	2	1	1	0	4	1	4
Shabab Urdun (3)	2	1	0	1	2	3	3
Ahli (5)	2	1	0	1	1	2	3
Sarih (11)	2	1	0	1	1	2	3
Sahab (7)	2	0	1	1	2	3	1
Ramtha (9)	2	0	1	1	0	1	1
Faisali (10)	2	0	1	1	0	1	1
That Ras (8)	2	0	0	2	2	4	0
Baqa’a(12)	2	0	0	2	0	4	0