Jordan hosts Syria in final Asian Cup qualifier

AMMAN — Jordan plays Syria on Wednesday in their final Group A Asian Cup 2015 qualifier.

Jordan booked the second qualifying spot from the group after it beat Singapore 3-1 and held Oman 0-0 to qualify to the finals in Australia in  2015. Oman leads the group with 11 points. In Round 1, Jordan held Oman 0-0, tied Syria 1-1 and defeated Singapore 4-0. 

Head coach Hosam Hassan has repeatedly underlined that Jordan will play for win despite having secured qualification. The coach’s line-up for the Syria match has again drawn criticism from local dailies, which questioned the prudence of his choice of key players and dropping Amer Shafie, Hasan Abdul Fattah, Amer Deeb, Basem Fathi, Hamza Dardour, and others.

Since first taking part in Asian Cup qualifiers in 1972, Jordan reaches to the Asian finals for the third time. 

Jordan played in the finals twice before. In the 13th Asian Cup, it lost to Japan in the quarter-finals and jumped to the best-ever FIFA rank of 37th in August 2004. In 2011, Jordan again reached the quarter-finals where it lost to Uzbekistan in 2-1.

Jordan lately finished runners-up at the 8th West Asian Football Federation Championship after losing to Qatar 2-0 in the final.