Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Amman: Jordan’s hopes of a maiden FIFA World Cup appearance suffered a huge blow on Wednesday after Hossam Hassan’s side suffered a 5-0 defeat by Uruguay in their intercontinental play-off despite a spirited display from the home side at Amman International Stadium.
Maxi Pereira, Cristian Stuani, Nicolas Lodeiro, Cristian Rodriguez and Edinson Cavani scored at regular intervals as Uruguay, who are ranked 64 places above Jordan in the FIFA rankings, produced a clinical exhibition of finishing.
And despite defying their ranking of 70th on occasions, Jordan were let down in the final third and now must score at least five unanswered goals in next week’s return fixture in Montevideo to deny 2010 semi-finalists Uruguay a trip to Brazil next year.
Having moved within two games of a first FIFA World Cup appearance after edging out Uzbekistan on penalties in their continental play-off, Jordan made a bright start as Adnan Adous strode towards the edge of the Uruguay penalty area after just four minutes and saw his low drive gathered by goalkeeper Martin Silva.
The home side, though, were given an early scare as Luis Suarez (pictured right) found space inside the Jordan penalty area but fortunately failed to guide a difficult half volley on target from Rodriguez’s pull back.
And despite that, it was Silva who was again called into action after 18 minutes as Odai Al Saify drove confidently down the right side of the Uruguay penalty area before attempting to catch the visiting custodian out at his near post only for the goalkeeper to make a smart one-handed save as Jordan continued their confident start.
But Jordan were dealt a blow midway through the first half as goalkeeper Mohamad Shatnawi could only palm Cavani’s back post header into the danger area and Pereira was on hand to sweep home from the edge of the six yard area.
The goal, though, did not dent Jordan’s confidence and the home side continued to cause Uruguay problems in the final third with Saeed Murjan dragging a shot wide of the post eight minutes before half-time.
But just three minutes before half-time Uruguay doubled their lead as Al Saify failed to deal with Lodeiro’s chip from the edge of the penalty area and Stuani slid in to guide the ball past Shatnawi.
Faced with an uphill task ahead of their trip to Montevideo, Jordan almost enjoyed the ideal start to the second half as Al Saify raced down the right wing and delivered an inviting near post cross, but after darting in between two Uruguay defenders, Ahmad Hayel inexplicably failed to find the target from the edge of the six yard area with the goal at his mercy.
Jordan continued to apply pressure at the start of the second half and had a penalty appeal turned down just before the hour mark as Mus’ab Al Lahham went to ground under a challenge from Martin Caceres which only resulted in a yellow card for the substitute less than a minute after replacing Al Saify.
But nine minutes after the hour mark, Uruguay added a third as Lodeiro produced a composed finish from the edge of the penalty area from Cavani’s pull-back after the Paris Saint-Germain striker had raced onto a perfectly weighted through ball before finding his team-mate from the byline after drawing Shatnawi out of position.
And with 12 minutes remaining Uruguay added a fourth as Rodriguez rifled home from inside the area after being found unmarked at far post by substitute Alvaro Pereira.
Shatnawi had to be on his toes to turn a curling shot from Uruguay substitute Diego Forlan around the post with a minute remaining.
But in the second minute of stoppage time, Shatnawi was left rooted to the spot as Cavani sealed the empathic win with a superb free-kick.
Photo: AFP