Jordan U-19 football team exits AFC qualifiers

AMMAN — The U-19 national team suffered an early exit in Group E Asian Football Confederation (AFC) qualifiers which were held in Manama, Bahrain.

Jordan had a relatively easy group and hoped to qualify. However, after its opening 3-0 win over Bhutan, Jordan was held 1-1 by Bangladesh before tying host Bahrain by the same score.

The Kingdom finished second in its group but failed to move on to the championship, which will be held in October 2020. The qualifiers include 46 teams playing in 11 groups with the top team from each group and top four second placed teams advancing to the championship. They so far include Qatar, Tajikistan, Iran, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Australia, South Korea, Japan.

Indonesia. Yemen, Uzbekistan, Laos and Vietnam qualified as best second-placed teams.

Leading non-qualifiers include North Korea, China and Thailand. Among Arab teams Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Yemen qualified while the UAE, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan was eliminated. Palestine will play its matches as of November 22. 

Team officials had hoped to continue the positive results Jordan had in previous U-19 events. However, finishing third at the West Asian Championship was an early sign the team was not in its best form.

Previously Jordan played at the AFC U-19 Championship five times with the best performance when it finished fourth in 2006 and advanced to the FIFA Youth World Cup in Canada in 2007. Jordan exited the first round in 2008 and 2010 and 2018 and reached the quarters in 2012. This was the third time Jordan failed to qualify after the 2014 and 2016.

U-23 Olympic squad leaves for Dubai

The U-23 Olympic team, which is preparing for the 4th AFC U-23 Championship, left for Dubai to play at the Dubai International Tourney, which comes amid preparations for the Asian Championship, a qualifying tournament for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Jordan topped Group E qualifiers to advance to the AFC Championship which will be played January 8-26, 2020 in Thailand.

In 2018, the U-23 men’s team was knocked out of Round 1 of the 3rd AFC U-23 Championship. In 2016, they reached the quarter-finals and in 2014 they finished third. 

In U-16 events, Jordan was eliminated in Group A qualifiers and failed to qualify to the U-16 AFC Championship. Held once every two years, the competition serves as a qualifier for the FIFA U-17 World Cup. Last year, Jordan bowed out of the Round 1 of the AFC U-16 Championship.

The U-16 women’s squad was also eliminated from Group A qualifiers for the AFC U-16 Women’s Championship. Similarly, the women’s U-19 team was eliminated from Round 1 qualifiers for the AFC Championship.