The Indian men’s senior national team will play a friendly against Jordan in Amman on November 17.
The match will be played at the King Abdullah II International Stadium and will kick-off at 9.30 pm IST.
Jordan are currently ranked 110 in the September rankings. India are ranked 97th in the world and drew 0-0 with China in their last friendly.
Mr. Kushal Das, General Secretary, All India Football Federation referred to this forthcoming match as a ‘significant’ one.
“The AFC Asian Cup is knocking at the door and as part of our preparation, it’s pertinent that the national team prepares in the best possible fashion by playing against stronger teams. Jordan are a very tough side who went down to World Cup runners-up Croatia 1-2 in their last match. It will be an acid test for us,” Mr. Das stated.
National coach Stephen Constantine maintained the match will be a “big test” for the team.
“This is going to be a really good game for several reasons. Firstly, Jordan is a quality team as we saw them in their 1-2 loss to Croatia the other day. We have to understand the level we are going to face in UAE and to be able to deal with it, we have to face tests like this. The game against China was a big test, and Jordan will be another one as well,” Constantine said.
India who have been clubbed in Group A with UAE, Thailand and Bahrain in the AFC Asian Cup play Thailand in their first match on January 6, 2019.
The coach mentioned that the climatic conditions in Amman are very much similar to UAE which will eventually help the team get acclimatised for the continental championship.
“After we secured our qualification we knew we needed to play against those opponents who will put us under pressure from the start. Moreover, we’ll play in Amman where the environment is very much similar to Abu Dhabi and Sharjah where we will play in January.”