Jordan U-19 football team plays Iran in AFC qualifiers

AMMAN — Jordan plays Iran on Monday in their second match at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) qualifiers currently under way at the Prince Mohammad Stadium in Zarqa.

The Kingdom beat Palestine 2-0 in its opening match as Iran held Syria 1-1 in the other Group E match.

The continents’ 43 teams have been split between East and West Asia into groups of five or four teams with the top team from each group and five second-placed teams advancing to the AFC U-19 Asian Championship.

Jordan which qualified to the Asian Championship four times and reached the FIFA Youth World Cup in Canada in 2007, aims to advance to the Asian Championship again this year after failing to qualify to the 2014 and 2016 championships.

The team finished fourth in 2006, but exited the first round in 2008 and 2010 and reached the quarters in 2012. 

The squad played the UAE in two friendlies in Dubai last month in the final phase of preparation tying them twice 1-1 and 0-0. 

On another note, Jordan’s U-23 team in high gear, is set to play three friendlies in preparation for the 3rd Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Championship in 2018 as well as the qualifiers for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

During their current training camp, the team will face the senior national squad on November 7 in Aqaba before twice facing Jordan Professional Football League club That Ras.

Jordan advanced to the AFC U-23 Championship from Group E qualifiers in which they finished second behind Palestine. Oman moved from Group A, Iraq and Saudi from Group B, Qatar and Syria from Group C, Uzbekistan from Group D, Australia form Group F, North Korea from Group G, Malaysia and Thailand from Group H, South Korea and Vietnam from Group I and China and Japan from Group J.

Earlier this year, Jordan’s U-16 team qualified to the 2018 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-16 Championship after topping Group A qualifiers. Jordan joined group winners Tajikistan (Group B), Iran (Group C), Iraq (Group D), Yemen (Group E), North Korea (Group F), Indonesia (Group G), Australia (Group I), South Korea (Group H), Japan (Group J). Oman, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia moved as second placed top four teams.

Organised by the AFC, and held once every two years for Asian U-16 teams, the competition also serves as a qualification tournament for the FIFA U-17 World Cup, with the top four countries qualifying. Iraq is the reigning champ. Since the event kicked off in 1995, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, China, Saudi Arabia and Oman have each won the title twice. Qatar, Iran, Thailand, Uzbekistan and Iraq won once each. Jordan failed to qualify to the 2016 AFC U-16 Asian Championship.