Jordan plays for U-23 West Asia title

AMMAN — The Kingdom’s U23 football team plays hosts Oman on Tuesday evening as they eye winning the title for the second time at the 6thedition of the U-23 West Asia Championship currently underway in Oman.

On their way to the final, Jordan beat Kuwait 2-0 before overcoming Syria 1-0 while Oman beat Bahrain 2-0 and Saudi Arabia 1-0.

In other matches, Syria beat Lebanon  4-2 (2-2 ), on penalties while Bahrain beat the UAE 2-1. In matches deciding 5-8th places, Kuwait beat Lebanon 1-0 and Saudi Arabia beat the UAE 2-0.

It is Jordan’s fifth time at the competition where it  exitedRound 1 in 2015, won the title in 2021, did not play in 2022, exited in the semis in 2023, and finished 5th in 2024.Iran won the inaugural U-23 West Asia Championship title in 2015, Jordan in 2021, Saudi in 2022, Iraq in 2023 and South Korea 2024.

The event boosted morale for the team ahead of the U-23 Asian Cup qualifiers slated for September 1-9. In 2024 thesquad exited the 6th AFC U-23 Asian CupinRound 1. In previous editions, the best position was 3rd in 2014, reaching the quarters in 2016, exiting Round 1 in 2018, reaching the quarters in 2020 and exiting Round 1 in 2022.

Earlier this year, the U-20 squad exited Round 1 of the Asian Cup, which is a qualifying tournament to the U-20 World Cup.  Similarly, Jordan exited the qualifiers of the U-17 Asian Cup.