Last June, Jordan secured their first World Cup appearance and in the days and weeks that followed, flags, banners and billboards draped all over the capital Amman featured images of the three stars that played such a part in the successful campaign: Yazan Al Naimat, Ali Olwan and Musa Al Taamari.
Just four months out from the big event and games against Austria, Algeria and Argentina, two of those are battling serious injuries.
Olwan is the most recent addition to the casualty list. Eight months ago, the forward scored all three goals in that famous 3-0 win in Oman that sent a country wild with delight and onto the global stage.
The 25-year-old’s reputation only grew in December when he ended the Fifa Arab Cup as the top scorer with six goals as "Al Nashama" reached the final, losing narrowly to Morocco but defeating Asian rivals Iraq and Saudi Arabia along the way.
With 27 goals and four assists in 57 international appearances, Jordan’s No 9 was establishing himself as one of the stars of West Asian football. Shortly after these Arab Cup exploits, Olwan joined Qatar club Al Salliya.
As Sunday’s Qatar Stars League game against Al Gharafa approached the half-hour mark, he was racing down the wing when Seydou Sano came lunging in. While the Senegalese centre-back got the ball, he also got the man, and it was instantly clear that Olwan was in pain.
After being stretchered off, the club announced that Olwan would need surgery on torn ankle ligaments. He is expected to be out for three months.
“We will have to wait and see,” an official for the Jordan Football Association told The National. “If all is well then Olwan will recover and then have time to get fit and ready for the World Cup. It is not perfect for us, but we all hope that it will be OK.”
It is the second major blow in the space of just a few weeks, as coach Jordan coach Jamal Sellami was already coming to terms with the loss of Al Naimat.
Also based in Qatar, the 26-year-old forward was, according to reports, due to join Egyptian giants Al Ahly in the January transfer window. In action for the national team in the quarter-final of the Fifa Arab Cup against Iraq, Al Naimat suffered a rupture of his Anterior Cruciate Ligament after just seven minutes.
The initial prognosis was a recovery period of between six months to a year. Unless there is a miracilous recovery, it is safe to draw the conclusion that Al Naimat won’t be in California for that opening game against Austria on June 17.
After Jordan made it past Iraq, an emotional Sellami, the Moroccan who was recently granted Jordanian citizenship by King Abdullah II for his services to the country, was interviewed. "These are not tears of joy. Yes, we won and qualified, but Yazan Al Naimat was injured,” the coach said.
There is more bad news. Tammer Bany, a talented attacking midfielder who plays for West Bromwich Albion in England's second-tier Championship, made his international debut in Jordan’s 0-0 draw against Mali in November.
The 22-year-old was born in Denmark and eligible to play for that European country as well as Palestine. In the end, he picked Jordan, to the delight of the coaching staff.
Late in December, Bany picked up a thigh injury that required surgery. It remains to be seen whether he plays any part in the rest of the Championship season. Like Olwan, a complication-free recovery should mean he is recovered for the World Cup, but he will likely not be going to the United States with few, if any, competitive minutes under his belt and no opportunities to feature in preparation games.
The only ray of light for coach Sellami, at least in an attacking sense, is the form of Al Tamaari. The 28-year-old moved from Montpellier to Stade Rennais a year ago and this season has been a star as the team sit sixth in the French top tier.
The winger has found a level of consistency that had hitherto proved elusive in France. “He has transformed from the player I knew even six months ago, and has moved to a next level going forward,” coach Habib Beye said in December.
Beye was fired earlier this week and his replacement in Rennes will surely be getting a call from Sellami soon, asking him to take care of Al Taamari. Another injury would be hard to take for Jordan.
