Women’s, U-16 teams struggle in Asian qualifiers

AMMAN — The women’s national football team plays Thailand on Friday in their third match at the Asian Round 2 qualifiers for the 2016 Summer Olympics football tournament currently under way in Myanmar.

The Kingdom lost its qualifying chances after losing 3-0 to Taiwan and 2-0 to Myanmar.

Currently 53rd in the latest FIFA World Rankings and leading all Arab teams at 11th in the Asian continent, the team’s preparation period, which only included a series of local matches as well as two matches against 81st ranked Morocco, was not sufficient to the task ahead. Coach Khader Eid had acknowledged that “the task of clinching a berth from some of the best teams in East Asia was not easy.”

Jordan had topped Round 1 Asian Group B qualifiers by beating Uzbekistan 2-0, Hong Kong 1-0 and Palestine 6-0 and qualified to Round 2, where they joined other group leaders Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar. Only the top team from this round will move to Round 3 to play the top five seeded teams — Japan, Australia, South Korea and North Korea and China — and only the top two qualify to represent Asia at the Olympic Games.

 It is Jordan’s second time in qualifiers after the 2012 London Olympic qualifiers when they advanced to Round 2. In 2014, the senior women’s team exited Round 1 of the Asian Games and the AFC Women’s Asian Cup where they were also the only Arab team to have ever qualified. The squad is reigning West Asian champ after winning the title with Iran, Lebanon and the UAE missing the event.

U-16 boys team needs to win

Meanwhile, the U-16 national football team plays Oman on Friday in its second match in qualifiers for the 2016 AFC U-16 Asian Championship where it is playing in Group B with Nepal, Oman and Kyrgyzstan.

Jordan stumbled in its first match losing to lowly Nepal 2-1. Its upcoming match is vital to keep qualifying chance alive before playing host Kyrgyzstan. Oman beat Kyrgyzstan 2-0 in its first match.

The squad lost to Qatar 2-1 in its last friendly before the qualifiers. Earlier it played only four official friendlies losing 3-2 and 4-2 to the UAE and also 3-2 to Palestine before defeating them 2-0. 

Current coach Abdulla Qitati took over after Jordan finished last at the 5th West Asian Championship under French coach Eric Deletang when the squad failed to score a single win — losing 1-0 to the UAE, 5-0 to Iraq, 1-0 to Palestine, before tying Saudi 2-2 in the West Asian event. 

India will host the 2016 AFC U-16 championship with a total of 45 nations including the hosts participating in the qualifiers, and the draw seeding based on the rankings from the last edition in 2014 won by North Korea. Jordan was eliminated from the 2014 AFC U-16 qualifiers held in Amman after finishing last in Group D. Jordan lost 2-1 to Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia and drew 4-4 with Syria.