U-23 hopeful at West Asian Championship

AMMAN — The U-23 national team will play Yemen in its opening match at the West Asian Championship kicking off in Doha on September 30.

The team left Amman over the Eid holiday to play the inaugural event in Group A alongside hosts Qatar, Palestine and Yemen. Iran, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain will play in Group B while the UAE, Oman, and Syria are in Group C. The top team from each group will move on to Round 2 alongside the best second placed team.

The relatively easy draw might have served Jordan making up for an otherwise modest preparation period hampered with no training camps and no serious friendlies. Coach Jamal Abu Abed noted “the Asian and Olympic agenda needed competitive playing experience underlining that the U-23 team squad did not have enough high level friendlies”. Even a four-nation friendly in Slovakia was cancelled after clubs did not release U-23 players to join training citing the local agenda. 

In 2014, Jordan’s U-23 squad had similar circumstances when it represented Jordan at the Asian Games. The team made to the quarter-finals despite a bumpy preparation period amid the busy agenda of the national team as well as local clubs. 

Following its West Asian Championship agenda, the U-23 national team needs to prepare for the 2nd edition of Asian Football Confederation (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 where it will play in Group D next to Australia, the UAE and Vietnam at the 16-team competition set for Qatar in January 12-30, 2016.

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 impressed observers when it 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.

Coach Jamal Abu Abed described the draw as “tough”. He added a serious effort was needed to counter the team’s aim of qualifying to the Olympic Games, adding that the mere effort of regrouping the line-up was complicated with the national team’s and clubs agendas taking precedence. 

“ The AFC U-23 Championship serves as Asia’s qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games. We need the support of all concerned so that a full line-up of recalled players attend practice when regrouped,” underlined Abu Abed.