National teams disappoint at regional qualifiers

AMMAN — The Jordan Football Association (JFA) will soon regroup national team coaching staff after most teams were eliminated from their receptive Asian qualifiers.

After the U-16 boys and women’s teams were eliminated last month, both the U-23 and U-19 followed suit echoing earlier concerns by observers.

Despite a technical issue causing its elimination from the 1st West Asian Championship, the JFA on Saturday expressed confidence in the U-23 team’s staff and announced coach Jamal Abu Abed would stay and prepare for the upcoming agenda.

The team will shift focus to the 2nd AFC U-23 Championship which also serves as Asia’s qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Jordan got a tough draw at the 16-team competition set for Qatar January 12-30, 2016 where they will play in Group D next to Australia, the UAE and Vietnam. The Kingdom qualified to the U-23 Championship after it topped Group B qualifiers in Amman as Jordan held Kuwait 3-3, beat Kyrgyzstan 4-0 and Pakistan 5-0 to advance.

In the inaugural edition, the U-23 team beat South Korea to take bronze at the AFC U-22 Championship (now renamed the AFC U-23 Championship) as Iraq beat Saudi Arabia to take the title.

Misinterpretation of regulations cost the team qualification on points at the 1st West Asian Championship. After defeating Yemen 3-1, losing 2-1 to Qatar, assuming Palestine’s results were scrapped after it was eliminated from the competition, the team’s reserves played as Jordan lost 1-0 to Palestine and ended up fourth in the group, allowing Yemen, the only team it beat, to advance as best second placed team.

The team had a modest preparation period hampered with no training camps and no serious friendlies. In 2014, the U-23 squad had similar circumstances when it represented Jordan at the Asian Games. It made to the quarter-finals despite a bumpy preparation period amid the busy agenda of the national team as well as local clubs. 

Meanwhile, the U-19 team, which previously reached the FIFA Youth World Cup in Canada in 2007, was eliminated from the AFC U-19 qualifiers after it lost 2-1 to Kuwait, 3-0 to Iran and beat Nepal 3-0. Only group winners and best second-placed team booked a slot to the AFC U-19 Championship set for Bahrain in 2016.  The top-four sides of the U-19 Championship advance to the FIFA U-20 World Cup.

The Kingdom has previously reached the AFC U-19 Championship four times. It exited the group stages in 2008 and 2010 and reached the quarters in 2012. Jordan failed to qualify in 2014 when it exited Group B qualifiers in Amman. 

On the other hand, as Jordan starts the countdown to host the U-17 Women’s World Cup kicking off September 30, 2016, the JFA is trying to secure more friendlies including a training camp in Germany and playing Egypt and Uzbekistan. Jordan beat Egypt 2-1 and 4-1 before leaving to Uzbekistan for a training camp and friendlies currently under way. 

Women’s teams have been competing in all age divisions in the Asian zone. In 2014, the U-19 team was eliminated from Group A qualifiers for the 2015 AFC U-19 Women’s Championship after qualifying as the only Arab team in 2007. The U-16 girls team also failed to qualify to the 2015 AFC U-16 Women’s Championship after qualifying in 2013. 

Earlier this year, the women’s national team concluded Group A Round 2 at the 2015–16 AFC Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament with a winless record and only one goal. Jordan lost 2-1 to Vietnam, 1-0 to Thailand, 3-0 to Taiwan and 2-0 to Myanmar. Similarly, the U-16 boys failed to move to the 2016 AFC U-16 Asian Championship.