U-16, women’s teams eliminated from Asian qualifiers

AMMAN — Two national teams were eliminated from their respective Asian qualifiers this week — echoing concerns of their coaches of not having prepared enough for competitive regional participation.

In qualifiers for the 2016 AFC U-16 Asian Championship, the U-16 national football team went down 4-1 to Kyrgyzstan in their last qualifier after they beat Oman 2-0 and unexpectedly lost the opening match to Nepal 2-1. Nepal and Oman qualified from the group joining Uzbekistan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Iran, India, Kuwait, Malaysia, North Korea, Thailand, South Korea, Australia, Vietnam and Japan to the finals.

Forty five nations played in 11 groups with group winners and four best second-placed teams moving on to the finals hosted by India will host the 2016 AFC U16 championship.

Earlier this summer, Jordan also finished last at the 5th West Asian Championship. 

Women’s team crashes

Meanwhile, the women’s national team concluded Group A Round 2 matches at the 2015–16 AFC Women’s Olympic qualifying tournament currently under way in Myanmar with a winless record and only one goal.

Jordan lost its fourth match 2-1 to Vietnam after losing 1-0 to Thailand, 3-0 to Taiwan and 2-0 to Myanmar. With two matches to go, Taiwan and Thailand lead the group as only the top team from this round will move to Round 3 to play the top five seeded teams — Japan, Australia, South Korea, North Korea and China — and only the top two qualify to represent Asia at the Olympic Games.

Currently 53rd in the latest FIFA rankings and leading all Arab teams at 11th in the Asian continent, team officials had voiced concern that “the task of clinching a berth from some of the best teams in East Asia was not going to be easy”.

By Aline Bannayan The Jordan Times