By Aline Bannayan

AMMAN - Jordan’s U-19 football team beat Tajikistan 2-0 on Wednesday to qualify to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-19 Championship.

Jordan took the lead atop Group A qualifiers after beating Palestine 3-1, Kyrgyzstan 2-1 and Nepal 3-2 and tying Yemen 2-2. Yemen beat Kyrgystan 3-1 to take the second spot in the group.

It is the third time the Kingdom’s team reaches the AFC U-19 Championship. In 2006, Jordan made it to the semis and qualified to the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada, and in 2008, the team struggled in qualification and exited the championship in the first round.

Held every two years, the AFC U-19 Championship (previously known as the AFC Youth Championship), acts as a qualifying tournament for the FIFA U-20 World Cup.

A total of 42 teams played for qualifying berths after being divided into seven groups of six teams each from East and West Asia zones. The top two teams from each group and the best third-placed team from each of the zones moved to the AFC Championship.

Group B includes: Qatar, the UAE, Bahrain, Syria and Sri Lanka.

Group C: Afghanistan, India, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman and Saudi Arabia.

Group D: Iran, Lebanon, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Group E: South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Macau and Bangladesh.

Group F: Australia, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan and Singapore.

Group G: China, North Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines and Guam.

Last week, the Kingdom’s U-16 football squad qualified to the 2010 AFC U-16 Championship for the first time.

The senior national team reached the Asian Cup finals once in the 13th edition in China in 2004, making it as far as the quarters, and jumping to its best ever FIFA rank of 37th.