Tue, 30 Nov, -0001
Amman: Three goals in the second half saw Jordan cruise to a 4-0 win over Singapore in Group A of qualifying for the AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015 on Wednesday.
Adnan Hamed's team took the lead through Abdallah Deeb in the first half before Khalil Baniateyah doubled his team's advantage and a brace by Ahmad Hayel ensured the perfect start for the Jordanians.
"Tonight's win will give us a lot of confidence before the next important matches," said Hamad. "We had a good performance on the attacking level and we didn't play with a defensive formation. I'm happy that our strikers created some chances and scored tonight.
"We are happy that our new players who are taking part in these kinds of matches for the first time had a good game. We now have good substitutes that we can use and this will help us to change the game plan. I hope that the good start will be a good motivation to qualify to the Asian Cup finals."
Singapore, winners of the AFF Suzuki Cup in December, struggled with the step up in class in the Jordanian capital and the home side took the lead in the 18th minute.
Odai Al Saify's surged through the Singapore defence after playing a neat one-two with Amer Deeb before sending the ball through to Deeb, who made no mistake.
Hayel twice went close to doubling Jordan's lead in what remained of the half but they had to wait until the second period to increase their advantage.
Baniateyah struck seven minutes after the restart after bursting into the penalty area and, three minutes later, Hayel claimed his first of the game with a shot from inside that area that beat goalkeeper Mohamad Izwan.
With quarter-of-an-hour remaining, the Jordanians put the seal on their win as Hayel claimed his second of the night when he struck following a cross from the right to give Izwan little chance.
"We faced a difficult team today and Jordan really changed from the last time we met them," said Singapore's assistant coach Aide Iskandar. "We have prepared in different conditions to what we faced today as the weather was cold and we missed some key players.
"We had a good first half and we only conceded one goal but in the second half we made some mistakes and we conceded two quick goals at the start of the second half and it affected our plans for the game."