Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Amman: Coach Hossam Hassan insists Jordan must learn from Wednesday’s 5-0 intercontinental play-off defeat by Uruguay which all but ended any hopes of qualification for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
With a first FIFA World Cup appearance just two games away, Jordan produced bright spells at Amman International Stadium but were undone by a direct and clinical Uruguay.
Maxi Pereira, Cristian Stuani, Nicolas Lodeiro, Cristian Rodriguez and Edinson Cavani scored as Uruguay, who are ranked 64 places above Jordan in the FIFA rankings, left Jordan facing a virtually insurmountable task ahead of next week’s return fixture in Montevideo.
“I’m really sad with the result, but at the same time I’m satisfied with the performance of the players in such a difficult and decisive match. We had to produce a good performance as we were looking to get past Uruguay at home and I take the blame for the heavy defeat,” said Hassan (pictured), who played for Egypt at the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy.
“There were some mistakes, mainly in terms of passing or positioning or scoring our chances, however, we should learn a lot of lessons from such big and crucial encounters which will help us for the future.
“We were hoping that we could make all the fans happy. Previously big names like Japan, Australia and Korea Republic lost with such big results but they worked hard to achieve a good level where they are now and that’s what we should do.”
Jordan found themselves two goals behind at half-time following goals from Pereira and Stuani despite having posted an unbeaten home record in the final round of qualifying and subsequent play-off with Uzbekistan following wins over 2014 qualifiers Japan and Australia in Amman.
And after Ahmad Hayel wasted Jordan’s best chance of the match at the start of the second half, Lodeiro, Rodriguez and Cavani struck for the visitors.
“I can’t blame any player for the defeat especially because we have a good team and promising players who are playing in the competition for the first time. The result doesn’t reflect our performance in the match, and had our players scored from their chances, the result would have been different,” added Hassan, who replaced Iraqi coach Adnan Hamad in June after Jordan ended the final round campaign with a 1-0 home win over Oman.
“The players played well and they managed to produce an organised performance, but the experience of the Uruguay players helped them to take advantage of all their chances while we failed to score from our own chances.”
Uruguay, who are currently sixth in the FIFA rankings, had agonisingly missed out on automatic qualification on goal difference despite beating Argentina 3-2 on the final matchday of South American qualifying.
But having reached the semi-finals at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Oscar Tabarez’s side are now all but certain to take their place in the pots for December’s draw.
“I’m happy and satisfied with the big win as such a big victory is not easy especially because our opponents hadn’t lost any of their recent matches they played at home,” said Uruguay coach Tabarez.
“Jordan played well and they were good opponents for us, and to be honest, I never expected such a big result and I even didn’t expect that we would be able to have an easy victory before the match.
“However and despite the big win, we didn’t have the best performance, but the big difference between our attack and the defence of Jordan helped us to win.
“We will not be making any changes for the second leg as we should respect our fans who have bought the tickets and the stadium will be sold out. I hope that we can have a good performance against them and celebrate qualifying for the World Cup.”
Photo: AFP