Alkass Digital
The Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium is set to witness a tantalising encounter when Jordan and Indonesia clash in their final Group A match at the AFC U23 Asian Cup Qatar 2024 on Sunday.
It is a must-win fixture for the West Asians, who will have to claim their first three points of the tournament and hope that the result between leaders Qatar and Australia favours them in order to progress to the quarter-finals and keep their hopes of a maiden Olympic Games qualification alive.
Abdallah Abu Zema felt that his side were unfortunate in defeat against the hosts on Thursday as they fell to a last-gasp winner despite creating more opportunities, but acknowledged that they have to be more clinical in order to defeat Indonesia.
“Indonesia are well organised and well developed,” the 48-year-old former Jordan defender said. “Before the tournament, I said they were a good team and they have beaten Australia, which I think was well deserved, but we will prepare (to the best of our ability).
“We know what is required for the upcoming match and I believe we will be able to win… hopefully we will be the lucky ones (this time); from the performance I saw (against Qatar), I am confident that we will be ready with the same spirit.”
While their opponents have participated at every edition of the tournament to date, Shin Tae-yong’s Indonesia are making their debut after becoming the 25th different side to ever qualify.
A plucky performance in an opening day defeat against Qatar was followed by a historic victory in their second match, where they took down Australia 1-0 to revive their campaign. The Southeast Asians will be boosted by the return of midfielder Ivar Jenner from suspension, although forward Ramadhan Sanata remains sidelined after being sent off in their first match.
Shin, the first coach to secure qualification for Indonesia to the AFC U20 Asian Cup™, AFC U23 Asian Cup™ and AFC Asian Cup™, is seeking an improved showing against the Australians, where a point would be enough to send them through to the last eight.
“I will have a closer look into it (Jordan’s matches so far) and I will prepare (accordingly) for this match,” the 53-year-old said. “We had many deficiencies throughout this match (against Australia) and we are going to fix those.
“We are going to keep developing and checking our performance level, and I think we can have a good performance against Jordan.”
Jordan v Indonesia
Venue: Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium (Doha)
Kick-off: Sunday, 18:30 (UTC+3)