U-19 team prepares for Asian qualifiers

AMMAN —  The Kingdom’s U-19 football team has started a training camp in Turkey as they gear up for Asian Football Association U-19 qualifiers kicking off in October.

Jordan will play in Group E alongside hosts Iran, Kuwait and Nepal with group winners and best second-placed teams booking 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 Turkey camp will include two matches following which Jordan will host Lebanon on September 10 before heading to the UAE for the second camp a week later.

The squad regrouped earlier this year and has played a series of local friendlies. It lost to Shabab Urdun 4-2, Wihdat 2-1, That Ras 3-2, Sarih 3-0, the Royal Guards 3-1. The squad beat Yarmouk, Balama and Sahab 2-1, Salt 3-0 and tied Faisali 1-1.

“We will aim to qualify and will spare no effort to reach that goal,” coach Islam Diyabat noted. After two matches against Oman were cancelled Diyabat now pins big hopes on the Turkey camp to boost team preparedness.

“Friendlies in the past month have helped boost our competitive edge and given the squad much needed confidence,” Diyabat noted, adding “the upcoming training camps will help finalise the line-up.”

Bahrain will host the AFC U-19 Championship 2016 with a total of 43 teams including the hosts competing in the qualifiers divided in two zones: the West Zone with 25 teams and the East Zone with 18 teams. Ten group winners and five best second-placed teams will qualify for the finals while hosts Bahrain received an automatic qualification (total 16 teams). The qualifiers will be held from September 28 to October 6.

If Bahrain finishes top of its qualifying group or one of the five second best-placed teams, the next (6th) second placed team will qualify for the final competition.

South Korea, which beat Iraq in the 2012 final, has won the U-19 Championship a record 12 times since it started in 1959. Qatar won the last edition in 2014.

The Kingdom has previously reached the AFC U-19 Championship four times. In 2006, Jordan made headlines and achieved the country’s biggest sporting success when it qualified to the 2007 FIFA Youth World Cup in Canada after reaching the semis and eventually finishing fourth at the Asian U-19 Championship. They exited the group stages in 2008 and 2010 and reached the quarters in 2012. Jordan failed to qualify in 2014 when they exited Group B qualifiers in Amman.