National team regroups

AMMAN — The national football team regrouped on Thursday to prepare for two friendlies against Kuwait on October 10 and 13 as they start the countdown to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) 2015 Asian Cup in Australia.

New head coach Ray Wilkins announced the national team squad which included stars likes Amer Shafie, Amer Theeb among others, while others were off the list including 2013 best player Raed Nawatir and teammates on the injury list such as Adnan Adous, Mohammad Shatanawi and other players abroad — Hasan Abdul Fattah and Mohammad Mustafa. 

Wilkins was quoted in the local media as saying that options are open for the final line-up and that he expected players to “give their utmost, and head into the upcoming matches with a competitive spirit and taking on the challenge to win”.

The coach said the upcoming local training camp which started Thursday “will be important as we lay the foundations for our mutual work as one team” .

Jordan dropped 13 spots to 69 in the latest FIFA rankings. They last held China 1-1, lost to Uzbekistan 2-0 and Columbia 3-0 as the squad kicked off a series of high level friendlies as the Jordan Football Association aims to give the line-up optimum competitive experience against leading teams ahead of the AFC Asian Cup in January.

The Kingdom, qualified to the AFC Asian Cup after finishing second in Group A qualifiers behind leaders Oman. Jordan will play in Group D with 2011 titleholders Japan, Iraq and Palestine.