October 10, 2006	Tuesday	Ramazan 16, 1427

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LAHORE, Oct 9: Jordan Football Association's Technical Director Mahmoud El Gohary expressed the hope his team will qualify for the main round of the 14th Asia Cup.

Talking to journalists after a 31-member Jordanian squad arrived on Monday to play their fourth match of the Asia Cup qualifiers against Pakistan at the Punjab Stadium on Wednesday, El Gohary said his team was capable of winning the remaining two matches to qualify from group 'C'.

As Pakistan have no chances to qualify for the main round after losing all the four matches it had played, out of total six, Jordan with four points still have chances

The visitors are behind to the leaders UAE (ten points) and runners-up Oman (nine points) in the four-team Group 'C'.

Besides Pakistan, Jordan are to meet Oman on Oct 15 in the second leg match.

Jordan need to win both the matches but only if Oman lose to UAE in the last match, they will qualify for the main round.

Jordan had won the lone match against Pakistan 3-0 at Amman in February. They had played a goalless draw against the leaders UAE on Sept 9. Jordan were defeated by Oman 3-0 in the first leg. In the second leg UAE beat Jordan 2-1.

"The 0-0 draw with UAE in Dubai was a result which affected our position but technically we are in the race. We still have two matches ahead to grab six points and I hope Oman will lose to the UAE to pave way for us. Anything is possible in football," said 69-year-old Egyptian Mahmoud.

Mahmoud was Egypt's coach in 1990 World Cup and led Egyptians to the 1998 African Nations Cup title becoming the only man to win Africa's most important event as both player and coach. He was player when Egypt won the event in 1959.

The Egyptian remarked "I feel we played well at Dubai . We had a lot of possession, particularly in the second half, but couldn't create much opportunities and that made the difference."

Both Pakistan and Jordan teams held practice session under the floodlights at Punjab Stadium.

The Jordan squad comprises 21 players and ten officials. Faisal Ibrahim is leading Jordan:

Officials (10) : Jamal Al Daoud ( Head of Delegation), Mahmoud El-Gohary ( Technical Director), Ahmad Alqtaishat (Team Director), Jamal Abu Abed (Coach), Abdallah Abuzema ( Assistant Coach), Fekhri Saleh ( Goal keeper Coach), Talal Alswailmyeen (Administrator), Dr. Samir Sarah ( Team Doctor), Basheer Al Nsour (Physiotherapist) and Talaat Maher (Masseur).

Team: Amer Sabbah, Mohammad Alzubi, Ahmad Hayel, Ahmad Abdel Halim, Hasan Mahmoud, Hassouneh Sh.Qasem, Moayad Abu Kheshk, Abdelhadi El Maharmeh, Moayad Salim, Ahmad Ghazi, Faisal Ibrahim (skipper), Loai Elamaireh, Mohammad Khamees, Musab Al Rifae, Khaled Almaltaah, Osama Al Khateeb, Amjad Alshuaibi, Rafat Jaber, Basem Othman, Amer Khalil and Shadi Abu Hashhash.