Palestine vs Jordan 15/01/19

15 January 2019

Palestine and Jordan will face-off at the Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi in contrasting circumstances. While Jordan already booked their tickets for the knockout phase, Palestine are entering the must-win territory.

A 0-0 draw with Syria and a 3-0 loss to Australia have rooted the Lions of Canaan to the very bottom of this group. After failing to secure a victory in the previous two outings, Palestine have to win this if they look to advance to the knockout stage. But, a triumph means they have to score, which is something they’ve struggled to do three times in their last four games that include both of their opening matches at the tournament. They need to step up their game in the first half, which proved to be their principal problem in their previous five meetings. Noureddine Ould Ali’s players have struggled to hit the net in before the break in all of their last five games, having also failed to do so in seven of their last nine races. Additionally, the Fedayeen’s task will be even more complicated considering they’ve lost the previous three H2H meetings with Jordan, conceding staggering 13 goals while scoring exactly one goal in each.

Although they are considered 35/1 favorites to win the tournament, Jordan have emerged as one of the wonders of the competition after the opening two rounds. After pulling off a 1-0 win over Australia on the opening matchday, the Chivalrous have swept Syria aside with a 2-0 victory in the second round to reach the top of Group B. Vital Borkelmans seems to have managed to fix his team’s defensive problems, as Jordan remain one of five teams that are yet to concede a goal. Before the competition started, the Chivalrous have failed to keep a clean sheet six times in a row, allowing over 1.5 goals per match only once though. However, despite scoring two goals against Syria, Jordan still deal with immense problems in the final third that have seen them score over 1.5 goals per game only twice in their last 11 races.