Jordan's World Cup dream lives on

Adrian, good effort on your article. It was certainly informative. But let me ask you, how much do you really know about Uruguay, mate, or South American football in general? It seems to me not much, let's be honest. You say Uruguay is 'not on the same page' as Brazil and Jordan can take solace from that? Well let's see. Uruguay is currently ranked 6th in the world, Brazil are 11th. Uruguay are the current South American champions where Brazil and hosts Argentina were eliminated in the semis and quarter finals stages respectively. Brazil was eliminated by Paraguay after managing only a draw against them and losing the inevitable penalty shoot that followed. Uruguay then convincingly beat the Paraguayans in the grand final by a score of 3-0. More recently, Uruguay beat Colombia (ranked 4th) by 2-0, and later Argentina (ranked 3rd) 3-2. Are you getting the picture yet, Adrian? Let me help you a little more. Fifa has just released the 23 nominees for the coveted Balon D'Or; in other words, a final list of the 23 best players in the world for 2013. There are two Brazilians on that list: Silva and Neymar. There are also two Uruguayans: Cavani (last year's top goal scorer in serie A), and Luis Suarez (last year's 2nd top scorer in the EPL despite several games missed through suspension. All these stats I quote are current, but even if we spoke historically, you would know that no one holds more continental cups than Uruguay with 15, followed by Argentina with 14, whilst Brazil come in a distant third with 8 trophies. Now, no one's saying here that Uruguay are a better team than Brazil, and certainly no one is saying that Brazil have not been historically the most successful nation on earth. There is no question either that the Brazilians have always played arguably the most visual and fluid football on earth. But to say Uruguay and Brazil are not on the same page, Adrian, is a gross error, as I hope I have made clear in this reply. Uruguay and Brazil last met only a few months ago in the quarter finals of the Confederations Cup played in Rio. Brazil beat Uruguay 2-1, but anyone who watched that match would say that it could have gone either way. It was that close. As a final point, I'd like to remind you, Adrian, that Brazil are hosting this World Cup for the second time in their history. The first time, you will recall, was in 1950. Now see if you can also remember who won it?

The Jor vs Urug game is a dream game to most Jordanian players. Playing the likes of Cavani , Suarez and Forlan. Jordan is way behind technically and are not in good form at the moment. But in many leagues we see little (semi pro teams) give the big teams trouble. I think many fans in Jordan understand that but are hoping for the leg not be over in Amman or in the first 45 minutes. In other words, if aggregate stays less than 3 goals difference that makes the game exciting. Prediction 2-0 Urg in Ammnan. 6-1 in South America. Can this experience open doors for the Jordanian players to the world ?

Uruguay can be beaten. I dont like Uruguay, they play dirty and try to influence the referee always. Be aware of Uruguays most dirty players: Lugano, Suarez. They both play very dirty and are cowards. Please Jordan, beat the hell of Uruguay. Sincerely. A Peruvian national.

Ecuador beat Uruguay 1-0 and now its ever possible that Uruguay will come 5th and it seems that Jordan will play Uruguay,........a david and Goliath game in the making...

If Uruguay played as they played Ecuador today, then Jordan will beat them.

I just stumbled on this thread of comments, and wow, the level of ignorance and snobbishness is staggering. A few clarifications ( I am Jordanian) - Jordan is not the desert, Amman is actually hilly and where the stadium is it's more than 3,000 ft above sea level, and November is cold and rainy - Football in Jordan is not the bush leagues or the baseball minors in the US, it's the national sport and Jordan has a good regional and Asia record - they players are young and scrappy, and have the confidence to take on any team, maybe it's youth exuberance but they are fearless - South American has a large middle eastern ethnic population, and we look forward to playing with our distant cousins - win or lose, for an unknown team to get to this point, and run shoulders with the greats, it's a national pride story. Our players deserve the utmost respect We look forward to the games.... Go Jordan

I don't like Jordan's chances, but you just never know in these 2 leg play-offs where a piece of luck, or a horrible refereeing blunder can play a huge role. I also suspect that Jordan are mentally stronger than Uzbekistan, having bounced back impressively from horrendous away losses to Japan and Australia, but they seem to get the job done when it counts, unlike those perennial chokers Uzbekistan. That said, if we look objectively at this cycle of inter-continental playoffs from the last 3 World Cups, where every confederation bar UEFA and CAF have played each other once (with these matchups to complete the cycle), we can say that Asia have been the undisputed underperformer: From 2006 and 2010 we have the following: OFC: 2/2 CONCACAF: 1/2 CONMEBOL: 1/2 AFC:0/2 Barring a miracle from Jordan, I would argue that the AFC's 4.5 spots should be placed under review. The 5th placed AFC representative has lost against Trinidad and Tobago and New Zealand, while the OFC has a chance to qualify for its 3rd successive WC, although this will be a far more difficult task for the Kiwis than Bahrain were 4 years ago. I also think the AFC has stagnated over the last 10 years, while CONCACAF has improved dramatically over the same period, with Mexico now under threat to miss qualification. This same struggling Mexican team recently beat Japan at the Confeds Cup.

Because South Americans would never dive... But i do agree with your general point.

Saudi would be a top league however they (and the Gulf States) place their burgeoning talent in golden handcuffs and don't let them test themselves in Europe which stagnates their development. This in turn makes the league a tad complacent. Kids like Fahad Al-Muwallad should be encouraged to got to Europe and test themselves, not remain in Saudi cotten wooled in comfort by a club like Al-Ittihad. Ahmed Khalil in Al-Alhi in UAE is another example. These kids should be playing for teams like Feynoord, wolfsburg or Lyon, not in their home clubs where they'll stay for the rest of their careers. The Saudi league needs to be place where football can grow, not a dead end. Certainly the money, clubs and supporters are there to make it so. They just need to be able to let kids go so they can grow and do Saudi proud on the international stage. This is another enitre topic though.

really man ...you have never watch Jordan play and you called them diving wimps...you are such a fair and just human being!!!

the match is in November which means it is going to be cold...AMMAN is not a desert

you saw them play to brand them as divers? Man you don't even know what the heck you're talking about beside the Saudi league is the best in Asia get your facts right.

Current likely CONMEBOL suspects with 2 games to go: Chile 3rd on 24 points Ecuador 4th on 22 points Uruguay 5th also on 22 points Venezuela 6th on 19 points Fantastic for Asian football. Not impossible, but very unlikely for Jordan. All Whites in a slightly better position with a playoff against either Panama or Mexico, who are equal 4th with 2 games to go.

Socceroos have a 100% chance of playing Brazil. Every FIFA international tournament we ever play in we get Brazil in the first round. Don't underestimate Blatter's corruption.

Go jordan. Would be great for our region. You just never know.

This.

My attempt of calculation This is the assumption that Asian teams are put in the same pot as south america. It's quite possible we will could be place in Pot 4 and swapped with the african/concacaf/ofc nations as well. If we are in pot 4 it would simply be 1/8 to be in the Brazil group and 1/24 to be playing the opening game Pot 1: Seeds Pot 2: Non-seeded European Team Pot 3: Asia/South America Pot 4: Africa/CONCACAF/OFC So Brazil and Argentina will be the two seeded non South American teams. Therefore the South american sides must all be placed with the European seeded teams. So the four south american sides will be put wiht european sides and two asians team will be put with european sides and two will be placed with south american teams. So there is a 50% chance of been place with Brazil or Argentina 25% chance of being place with Brazil 1/12 chance (1/4 x 1/3 as we have a chance of playing brazil first, second or third) of playing the opening game of the tournament. So that is about 8.3% from my calculation Of course that's assuming that CONMEBOL and AFC are paired together in the draw.

Having not watched either game, this is what I suspected. I hope Jordan get beaten comprehensively in the playoff, firstly because I would much prefer some more South American flavour at the World Cup than a bunch of diving wimps to be blunt. But, most importantly, it might prove to us (and hopefully some Socceroos, Holman and Brosque, for example) that the gulf between desert football and high class football is so large that you cannot hope to compete internationally by playing in the domestic leagues of these Middle Eastern nations.

I will generally be supporting the asian teams at the World Cup, and I'd like to support Jordan as the underdog, but I just can't get on board. The amount of diving and rolling around faking injury they always get up to makes them one of my most disliked regular opponents, and hence one of the teams I most like to see beaten by Australia when we play them. Of course I'm not particularly fond of any of their likely south american opponents either.

Ah ok, and Brazils first match is against the lowest ranking team in the group? Or can it be against any side?