Jordan's Asian Cup runners-up is not the pinnacle, the 2014 World Preliminary Tournament is the best proof of this
Although Qatar recently won their World Cup trophy as an Asian powerhouse, whether Jordan can break into the Asian Cup is undoubtedly the most exciting thing in Asian football in 2024. Keep in mind that Qatar is one of the strongest teams in Asia, as they won the 2019 Asian Cup and the World Cup they hosted. However, Jordan has never been seen as the top team in Asia, as can be seen in their world rankings. Therefore, Jordan were able to make it to the final match, which is a huge surprise in itself, and don't expect them to be able to create a Greek legend in Asia.
In fact, Jordan's second place in Asia is already the best record ever. Jordan has never made it to the last game of the World Cup, even 14 games. From our point of view, the main teams in West Asia are Saudi Arabia, Iran and now Qatar; followed by Iraq, UAE, Syria, Bahrain, Oman; The next step, perhaps, will be Jordan. This time, Jordan once again impressed us with their best ever Asian Championship.
Is this by far Jordan's greatest glory at the World Cup?
If you only focus on Asia's five-game winning streak, this second place is the highest level in the true sense. But what if other measures were introduced? Not necessarily. Perhaps, second-tier Asian teams such as Jordan will give up their second place in the Asian Cup for a ticket to the World Cup.
Let's take a look back at the 2014 Asian Football Championship.
At that time, Jordan were placed in Group B in a 10-in-1 match. In terms of strength, they are far behind Japan and Australia, so they can only finish in third place. However, the third place in this group is enough to qualify for the Asian qualifiers. They held Uzbekistan to a draw in both Asian qualifiers and performed well in the eventual penalty shoot-out to finish top of the Asian rankings. That way, they only need to play two more rounds to qualify for the World Cup.
Unfortunately, in their continental Cup final, they will face Uruguay, who are 10 times stronger than them. The contrast in strength between these two teams can be seen in the results of the two legs. In the first leg, Jordan lost 5-0 to Uruguay. In the second leg, Uruguay did not even play a decent game at home in Uruguay and ended up losing 0-0 to Uruguay. Obviously, Uruguay's attack on Jordan was a multidimensional attack.
However, judging by the performance of the participating Asian teams in the World Cup qualifiers, it is very difficult to qualify for the Champions League. Especially Jordan, a team in the second echelon of Asia, how hard have they worked in order to enter the World Cup qualifiers? And now, they've never made it to a final like this, which could be the best of their careers.
That's right, there is a very real way to win the Asian League, and that is to win the championship and finish second, both of which can go down in football history. How was the World Cup? If you win, you can enter the World Cup; Failing, playing well in your hometown, doesn't make any sense. But how nice would it be to be able to get up close and personal with a World Cup as a team that has never played in a World Cup before?
There is no doubt that Jordan has 8. in Asia thanks to one more team participating in the tournamentFive seats will be enough, and we will be able to meet Jordan in 2026. In this case, reaching the Copa America may not be a great result.