“Al-Abyad” launches the Arab Cup through “Al-Nashama” Gate

The national football team is undergoing a strong test this evening, when it faces its Jordanian counterpart, at 21:00 UAE time, at Al Bayt Stadium in Doha, in the first round of the third group competitions of the 2025 Arab Cup, which Qatar is hosting from the first to the 18th of this month. In addition to the Emirati and Jordanian teams, the group includes Egypt and Kuwait.

“Al-Abyad” is seeking a strong start in the tournament despite the difficulty of the task, hoping to appear in a way different from the one it appeared in in the last period, and to compensate for its failure in not qualifying for the 2026 World Cup, after wasting more than one opportunity in the group stage and the Asian playoff.

The team will play its second match against Egypt, next Saturday, at Lusail Stadium, before concluding its matches in the first round by meeting Kuwait on the ninth of this month at Stadium 974.

The balance of historical confrontations, in recent years, has tilted in favor of the Emirati team, as the two teams met four times recently, with “Al-Abyad” winning three matches, compared to a single victory for Jordan, and the last confrontation between them was on May 24, 2021 at Rashid Stadium in Dubai, in which the Emirati team won five goals to one goal in a friendly match in preparation for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.

“Al-Abyad” also won 3-1 in the match on October 14, 2009, and won with an unanswered goal in a friendly match on December 30, 2014, while Jordan won 3-1 in the King’s Cup of Thailand on June 3, 2016, and then qualified for the final.

The UAE national team is participating in the tournament for the third time, after finishing fourth in the 1998 edition, and was eliminated from the quarter-finals of the 2021 edition by losing to Qatar 5-0, while Jordan is competing in its 10th participation since the first edition in Lebanon in 1963, and enters the current tournament in high spirits, after its historic qualification to the 2026 World Cup.

The tournament represents an important challenge for the Romanian coach, Elario Cosmin, who hopes to leave a clear mark with the national team, after the criticism that affected the performance of the “Whites” during the World Cup qualifiers.

The team suffered a painful blow with the injury of the main goalkeeper, Khaled Issa, in the back muscle a few days before the start of the tournament, but Cosmin is counting on a group of elements capable of making a difference, such as: Caio Lucas, Luan Pereira, Marcos Meloni, and Nicolas Jimenez.

The national team completed its preparations for the tournament through a short camp in Dubai that lasted three days, before continuing its training in Doha since its arrival last Friday.

On the other hand, the Jordanian team, led by coach Jamal Salami, enters the tournament with great confidence, after the recent remarkable development in its career, and its qualification for the 2026 World Cup. The team includes prominent elements, such as Yazid Abu Leila and Yazan Al-Naimat, while it lacks the services of a number of its stars, most notably Musa Al-Taamari and Yazan Al-Arab.