A word of sobering nightlife, today's situation is worse than it was on a day when Jordan lost
A word of sobering nightlife, today's situation is worse than it was on a day when Jordan lost
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"The situation is similar to the game where Jordan beat South Korea."
This is what Yazan Al-Rab, a key defender of Jordan and a "Jihan faction," said ahead of the match against Korea. Jordan will hold its eighth Group B match against South Korea in the third Asian qualifying round for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North Korea and the U.S. at Suwon World Cup Stadium in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, at 8 p.m. on Saturday. Since South Korea ranks first in the group and Jordan is second in the group by a three-point margin, if Jordan wins, he will emerge as No. 1 in the group.
Speaking at a press conference a day before the match, Yazan expressed his confidence. Jordan had one win and one draw with South Korea at the Qatar Asian Cup last year. The team tied 2-2 in the group league and beat South Korea in the semifinals to advance to the finals that will remain in Jordan's history. Yazan said, "We met twice at the Asian Cup. In particular, the semifinals and the match we won are similar. Both teams have similar injuries. If you look closely, they are the same. It is important to bring three points tomorrow."
In other words, there are players who are absent from each other, but from Jordan's point of view, Ali Oluwan, the "three options" of offense, is a representative. Oluwan, who also played a key role during the Asian Cup, was absent from the semifinal match against Korea due to accumulated warnings. In addition, veteran center back Salem Al-Jalin was also excluded from the call-up as he suffered from a decrease in the weight of the recent A-match.
Kim Min-jae was absent from Korea during the semifinal. Both teams seemed to have similar positions as key players were left out due to accumulated warnings, but when they opened the lid, Korea's electricity loss, physical strength and performance deteriorated even more.
However, Korea has more absent players than back then. In addition to Kim Min-jae, who was not good at the time, Lee Kang-in will also be excluded. Korea deployed Lee Kang-in earlier than planned as it could not find a player to solve its offense in the match against Oman on the 20th, and as Lee Kang-in left due to injury in the second half, it was unable to deploy him in the match against Jordan.
On top of that, Hwang In-beom, who only "selected one point" after watching the match against Jordan, is also known to be in a difficult state to use full-time because he did not find his full condition until the 25th. Hwang In-beom's replacement, Baek Seung-ho, left due to injury, and Lee Kang-in, who was the "Plan C," failed to use the midfield. If Hwang In-beom plays half of the match against Jordan, there are many variables about what he will do with the other half, whether he will be able to perform well while Hwang In-beom plays, and whether his injury will be helped like Lee Kang-in.
Jordan, on the other hand, has membership changes, but the frontline Moussa Altamari and Yazan Al-Naimat duo are still there, and defense's Yazan Al-Rab played for FC Seoul, further enhancing his adaptation to Korean soccer. 안전놀이터
Even considering all these factors, Korea is still stronger. However, the probability of a variable occurring is higher than ever. We need to control this and lead the home game to victory.