Islamabad (AFP)
French Montpellier striker Musa Al-Taamari led the Jordanian national team to its first victory in the second round of the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup and the 2027 Asian Cup in football, by scoring a brace during its easy victory over host Pakistan 3-0.
Under the leadership of Moroccan coach Hussein Amouta, the Jordanian national team achieved the best result in its history in the Asian Cup when it finished runner-up to host Qatar at the beginning of the year, but it did not qualify for the World Cup, and its closest journey was in the 2014 qualifiers, when it lost a global playoff to Uruguay.
Before that, he had a disappointing start in the qualifiers with a loss at home to Saudi Arabia 0-2 and a draw at Tajikistan 1-1 in Group Seven.
Al-Taamari (2.86) and Ali Alwan (9 from a penalty kick) scored Jordan's goals, raising their score to four points, and the confrontation between the two teams will be renewed on Tuesday at Amman International Stadium.
The Jordanian national team initiated the early attack and succeeded in opening the scoring, after Mahmoud Mardi executed a free kick with a short touch by Al-Taamari, who turned in front of the wall and shot it forcefully to the right of goalkeeper Youssef Butt (2).
Yazan Al-Naimat received Nizar Al-Rashdan’s cross inside the penalty area, earning a penalty kick when he tried to dodge the defender, and Alwan executed it to the right of the goalkeeper “9”.
Jordan's attempts collided with the Pakistani defense, and its players competed to waste opportunities in the second half, before Al-Taamari got a penalty kick, which he executed himself, but the Pakistani goalkeeper was able to keep the ball away (82).
Al-Taamari made up for his failure four minutes later, when he exchanged the ball with Yazan Al-Naimat inside the penalty area before shooting it creeping to the right of the goalkeeper (86).
This is the ninth victory in nine matches for Jordan over Pakistan since their first match since 1988.
The match was held in the afternoon and during fasting hours, due to the lack of floodlights that meet international standards at Jinnah Sports Stadium in Islamabad.
The top two teams from the nine groups qualify for the third round of the World Cup qualifiers scheduled for the United States, Canada and Mexico, and at the same time these teams reserve their places in the 2027 Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia, noting that Asia is represented by eight teams with the possibility of it rising to nine according to the results of the global playoff.
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