Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Jordan went down one spot to 82nd in the latest FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking issued on Wednesday.

The squad is now 8th among Asian Football Confederation (AFC) teams and 7th overall among Arab teams after playing five matches in Round 3 Group A World Cup qualifiers - beating Iraq 2-1, China 2-0 and Singapore 3-0. In the return leg Jordan beat Singapore 2-0 but lost to Iraq 3-1.

Jordan still has a match against China on February 29, but have qualified to be among the continent’s last 10 for the first time since taking part in the qualifiers in 1985.

The latest rankings saw world and European champs Spain still in the top spot, followed by the Netherlands, Germany, Uruguay, England, Brazil, Portugal, Croatia, Italy and Argentina.

The top Asian team in the AFC is four-time Asian champ Japan in the 22nd spot, followed by Australia (22), South Korea (32), Iran (45), China (72), Uzbekistan (76), Iraq (81), Jordan (82), Oman (93) and Qatar (95).

Algeria lead top 10 Arab teams at 30th spot, followed by Egypt (31), Tunisia (59), Morocco (60), Libya (63), Iraq (81), Jordan (82), Oman (93), Qatar (95) and Kuwait (100).

The national team is set to meet Egypt in a friendly on December 2 and South Korea on February 24. Coach Adnan Hamad earlier announced that the Olympic team and young players on the national squad would represent Jordan at the Pan-Arab Games in Doha next month.

This year, the national team made it to the quarters of the 14th Asian Cup for the second time after 2004.


* Jordan Times