The Jordanian national team faces Tunisia… and summons a new professional player from England

The Jordanian national team will host its Tunisian counterpart on Friday evening at the Hamadi Al-Aqrabi Olympic Stadium in the capital, Tunis, in a friendly international match as part of their preparations for the FIFA Arab Cup Qatar 2025, scheduled to be held in Doha from December 1 to 18 next year.
The Jordanian national team, which qualified for the World Cup finals for the first time in its history, will play a second friendly match next Tuesday against Mali.
The Jordanian national team plays in the Arab Cup in the third group, which includes Egypt, the Emirates, and the winner from Kuwait and Mauritania, while Tunisia plays in the first group alongside Qatar, the winner from the match between Syria and South Sudan, and the match between Palestine and Libya.
The Jordanian national team held a final training session at the Amman International Stadium on Tuesday evening with full ranks and under the supervision of its Moroccan technical director, Jamal Al-Salami, before traveling to Tunisia.
Al-Salami told Agence France-Presse, “The Jordanian national team lacks experience with different schools. Tunisia has a strong national team that has participated in many World Cups, and is different from other African teams in terms of defensive strength and technical characteristics.”
He added, “We seek to gain experience from facing Tunisia and then Mali, which has professional players in strong leagues, and therefore friendly confrontations are important for us.”
Al-Salami, the top scorer in the local league with 8 goals, returned Mohamed Al-Arsan to the national team after a period of absence, while he extended an invitation for the first time to West Bromwich Albion’s English winger, Tamer Bani Odeh.
Jordan played against Tunisia three times previously, as the latter won 4-0 in the first meeting in 1963 in the Arab Cup in Lebanon, and 5-0 in the second meeting in 1974 in a friendly tournament in Syria, while they tied 3-3 in a friendly match in the third in 2011 in Amman.
The Jordanian national team began its preparations for the World Cup in early September, where it played two friendly matches with Russia (0-0) and the Dominican Republic (3-0), and played the same last month in the Turkish camp, where it lost to Bolivia (0-1) and Albania (2-4).
Jordan was the first Arab team to reserve its ticket to the finals of the United States, Mexico and Canada at the beginning of last June, after coming second in the third group of the third round of the Asian qualifiers behind South Korea.
On the other hand, Tunisia reached the World Cup finals for the seventh time in its history, at the beginning of last September, by defeating its host Equatorial Guinea 1-0 in the eighth round of the eighth group competitions within the African qualifiers.
Tunisia is also preparing for the African Cup of Nations finals scheduled to be held in Morocco between December 21 and January 18, where the draw placed it in the third group alongside Uganda, Nigeria and Tanzania.