Jordan and Oman win, UAE lose to Paraguay
AMMAN: Jordan and Oman were victorious on the opening day of the Jordan International Friendly Tournament, defeating Syria and Iraq respectively at King Abdullah II Stadium on Friday.
Uzbekistan, meanwhile, were at their best to defeat Cameroon in a friendly played in South Korea while Bahrain and UAE suffered defeats to Cape Verde and Paraguay respectively.
Jordan produced an impressive first-half display to defeat Syria 2-0 to advance to the final.
UAE, who are currently in Austria for an 11-day training camp, were undone by a late goal as they fell 1-0 to Paraguay at Wiener Neustadt.
The friendly looked set to end in a draw but Fabian Balbuena struck in the 85th minute to seal the win for the South American side.
Ater a run of four consecutive World Cup appearances between 1998 and 2010, Paraguay have failed to qualify for the third time in a row.
The UAE, meanwhile, came agonizingly close to sealing their place in the competition but lost out 2-1 to Australia in the fourth and final AFC round.
The camp marks the first in a number of UAE get-togethers as Rodolfo Arruabarrena’s men set sights first on the Arabian Gulf Cup in Iraq in January, and then the West Asian Football Federation Championship, on home soil, in March and April.
Focus will then shit to the Asian Cup next summer. The hosts for the continent’s premier competition have yet to be decided following China’s withdrawal in May.
The national team have already confirmed their next training camp, in Abu Dhabi in November, where they will take on Argentina in a high-profile friendly and then Kazakhstan. Those fixtures fall on November 16 and 19.
Ajdin Hrustic scored in the 84th minute to break the UAE hearts, as their wait for a second appearance at the World Cup continued.
Their last and only prior meeting also came in a friendly game, back in September 2014 when the sides played out a goalless draw.
Adnan Hamad’s side opened the scoring through Ahmed Samir’s 25th minute shot from outside the area which sailed past Syria goalkeeper Ahmad Madania.
It became 2-0 two minutes before the break when Yazan Al Naimat broke free on the right, beat two defenders before scoring with a strong shot from just inside the area.
Oman edged Iraq 4-3 on penalties ater the two sides shared a 1-1 draw.
Oman took the lead in the 82nd minute through Omar Al Malki’s powerful header, only for Aymen Hussein to draw Iraq level through his own headed effort three minutes later.
Oman goalkeeper Ibrahim Al Mukhaini was the star in the penalty shootout, saving two atempts as they booked a final date with Jordan on Monday with Iraq to play Syria for third place.
Uzbekistan produced an impressive display to defeat Cameroon 2-0 at the Goyang Stadium in South Korea. Khojimat Erkinov gave Uzbekistan the lead in the 24th minute as the Central Asian side dominated proceedings.
Cameroon had their chances to equalise but failed to finish, leading to Oston Urunov sealing victory for Uzbekistan with his 76th minute effort. Uzbekistan will play Costa Rica on Tuesday.
Bahrain fell to a hard-fought 2-1 defeat to Cabo Verde at the Bahrain National Stadium.
Cabo Verde took the lead 13 minutes into the game, with midfielder kenny rocha’ s free-kick headed home by defender Edilson Borges with Bahrain drawing level 15 minutes later through midfielder Ali Haram, who scored from the penalty spot.