Play-off means the world for Jordan

Country carries hopes of Asia's Arab nations as they bid to reach finals for the first time, writes Jonathan Wilson in Amman.

Jordan's national football team players take part in a training session on Tuesday at Amman International Stadium ahead of their 2014 World Cup play-off against Uruguay. AFP

Outside the national stadium in Amman, a crowd of about 200 clustered around Prince Ali bin Hussein. From the vantage of a concrete block, a shaven-headed man in a white sweatshirt on which was printed the Jordanian flag, tears streaming down his cheeks, led the others in chanting the prince’s name. These are emotional times for Jordanian football.

Prince Ali, the half-brother of King Abdullah, the president of the Jordanian Football Association (JFA) and a Fifa vice president, had just attended the national team’s final training session before the first leg of their World Cup qualifying play-off against Uruguay. The mood was excited, but tense.

Earlier in the day hundreds of fans had besieged the JFA headquarters, begging for tickets. There were tears there, too, while on the black market prices had already reached 50 Jordanian dinars (Dh260).

On the other side of the ground it was as though it was match day already, the streets thronged with crowds, music blaring and corn on the cob grilling. Children rushed up to anybody not obviously local and demanded pictures of Luis Suarez or Edinson Cavani.

Alongside the desire to win there is also excitement that stars of that magnitude will play in Amman.

“In Jordan’s football history this is the biggest match,” Prince Ali said. “That is a reality. We are on the verge of qualifying for the World Cup. There’s been a lot of hard work from players and officials and coaches to get here. Remember, Jordan is a country that has very limited resources but at the same time with the spirit and hard work we managed to get here.”

He attributes their success to investment at the grass-roots level, pointing out that many of this side came together at the Under 20 World Cup in 2007 — when they lost to a Uruguay side for whom Cavani scored the only goal.

“Suarez and Cavani are nothing,” said the shaven-headed fan, the 29-year-old Khaled zi Qawe, who insisted they would be outshone by Jordan’s top scorer in qualifying. “No Suarez, no Cavani, only Ahmed Hayel.”

He refused to reveal which local team he supported, itself a hugely symbolic gesture. Jordanian football is divided between Al Faisaly and Al Wahdat, who, broadly speaking, represent the ethnic Jordanian and Palestinian communities in Amman. Their derbies are often violent affairs, football providing a release for wider social tensions. For now, though, that rivalry has been set aside.

“There is a bad idea about Faisaly and Wahdat, there is no problem here,” said Hossam Hassan, the great former Egypt striker who is Jordan’s coach.

“Like in Spain with Barcelona and Real Madrid, there’s a rivalry, but now we are all together in the national team. We are all Arabs under Allah.”

Zi Qawe’s message was a similar one of unity.

“Praise God, I speak to Prince Ali,” he said. “He is the same brother as anyone in Jordan. This is the man who takes a strong encouragement for Jordanian football. Tomorrow, Jordan will win. All the people in Jordan will be one man to encourage the team.”

The sense that this is about the region as much as it is about Jordan was enhanced with the news that Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, will provide a private plane to transport the players to Uruguay for the second leg, on November 20.

“If you look at our region,” Prince Ali told Reuters, “we have probably the least amount of resources going into our sport but at the end of the day we are the only ones from our region who are actually at this stage, so I’m optimistic.”

Uruguay, though, remain a major test. They have improved through qualifying, have in Suarez and Cavani one of the most lethal strike partnerships in the international game, and in Oscar Tabarez boast an elite coach.

“If Jordan gives everything it’s got in its status as home team, it will make it hard for us,” Tabarez said, warning his players to take nothing for granted.

“They’re very strong physically, they’re back and forth, they have a very direct style of play.”

If it comes down to a tactical battle, Tabarez is a master. The danger for him is that this will be a game played on raw emotion, and that the spirit of a nation will lift Jordan to unanticipated heights.

“We are going to win the match tomorrow in front of the Jordanian crowd,” Hassan said. “The crowd has been a huge part of Jordan’s success.”