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Ammon News - Jordan Times- Jordan went up to 65th place from 70th in the FIFA rankings issued during the weekend.

Jordan is now fifth among Asian Football Confederation teams led by Iran — who held on the top Asian spot at 33rd — and followed by Japan at 47th, South Korea (54th), Australia (58th), Jordan (65th), Uzbekistan (68th), UAE (71st), Oman (85th), Saudi Arabia (87th) and China (92nd).

FIFA top 10 rankings are led by Spain, followed by Germany, Argentina, Columbia, Portugal, Uruguay, Italy, Switzerland, Netherlands and Brazil.

Jordan ended the year having climbed 30 spots, starting at 95th in January 2013. The latest standings came after Jordan played world’s 6th ranked Uruguay in the intercontinental qualifying tie for a maiden place in the World Cup.

Jordan lost the home game 5-0 and held the former World Cup champs 0-0 in the away match, losing 5-0 on aggregate.

The Kingdom had never reached this far in World Cup qualifiers since taking part in 1985. Round 3 had been the furthest Jordan reached in the past seven times in the qualifiers since 1986.

Jordan lately beat 67th ranked Zambia 1-0, Nigeria 1-0, held Kuwait 1-1, beat Libya 2-1 and Palestine 4-1 in friendlies.

Meanwhile, the national football team is undergoing a rigorous twice-a-day training in Dubai as they prepare for the 8th West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) Championship in Doha, Qatar, slated for December 25.

The team is set to play Lebanon on December 26 in its first match after the draw for the December 25 to January 7, 2014 event was repeated following Yemen’s withdrawal.

Nine teams will compete in the event: Qatar will play Saudi Arabia and Palestine in Group A, Oman, Iraq and Bahrain in Group B and Group C will pit Kuwait against Lebanon and Jordan.

Head coach Hossam Hassan announced the line-up that would be part of the training camp before heading to Doha.

The coach was quoted by the Jordan Football Association (JFA) website on Tuesday as saying that postponing weeks 10 and 11 of the Jordan Professional League due to the prevailing weather conditions gave the national team more time to regroup and prepare.

“With local competitions on hold, we have changed the dates to have more time in the camp,” Hassan explained.

“Professional players in the Gulf leagues have not been released — apart from Saeed Murjan, who plays for Kuwait’s Kathima. Nevertheless, the technical team at the JFA will spare no effort to prepare players named for the agenda ahead.”

Following the WAFF event, Jordan is set to resume Asian Cup 2015 qualifiers to which the team has technically qualified. They will play Oman on January 31, Singapore on February 4 and Syria on March 5. Jordan is now second in Asian Cup 2015 Group A qualifiers after they held Oman 0-0, tied Syria 1-1 and defeated Singapore 4-0.

In the past eight times since first taking part in Asian Cup qualifiers in 1972, Jordan reached the finals twice: in the 13th Asian Cup, they lost to Japan in the quarter-finals and jumped to the best ever FIFA ranking of 37th in August 2004. In 2011, Jordan again reached the quarter-finals where they lost to Uzbekistan 2-1.

The Asian Cup qualifiers include 20 teams playing in five groups of four teams each. The top two teams from each group and the best third-placed team will qualify to the tournament to be held in 2015.