Published on 6/29/2026
Moroccan coach Jamal Salami, the coach of the Jordanian national team, confirmed that the first participation of “Al-Nashama” in the FIFA World Cup finals represented an extremely difficult test, stressing that the performance presented by the team throughout its journey in the tournament gives Jordanian football a lot of hope for the future, despite the fact that the participation ended in being eliminated from the group stage without achieving any point.
The Jordanian team exited the tournament after three consecutive defeats in Group Ten, which included the defending champions Argentina, Austria, and Algeria. However, it succeeded in scoring goals in all its matches and presented competitive levels that reflected the development witnessed by Jordanian football in recent years.
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An honorable performance against strong competitors
Despite the negative results, the Jordanian team did not show a lower level than its competitors in any of its three matches, which Al-Salami considered an important indicator of the players’ ability to compete with the first-class teams in the world.
The coach believes that exposure to large teams in a tournament the size of the World Cup has given his players valuable competitive experience, which will be reflected positively during future participations, whether in the Asian Championships or in attempts to qualify for the next editions of the World Cup.
Salami…a very important experience for this generation
Al-Salami stressed that the Jordanian national team includes a promising group of young players, who have distinguished years ahead of them if they continue to develop as required.
He said: “We have a group of young players in this generation who have a great future ahead of them. I think this was a very important experience for them.”
He added: “But the most important thing that can give them more momentum, enthusiasm, and greater chances of winning is to play in leagues that enjoy higher and stronger competition.”
Al-Salami explained that the current experience has confirmed the importance of players becoming professional in strong leagues, considering that continuous competition at high levels makes the difference in major tournaments.
He said: “This is what we saw during the World Cup. We saw how nine African teams out of ten participating in the tournament qualified for the round of 32. As for Asia, how many were there? Two, Japan and Australia.”
The Moroccan coach continued: “Therefore, the high level of football requires the presence of players in major European leagues in order to gain that competitive ability.”
Musa Al-Taamari is the only exception
The current reality of the Jordanian national team indicated that Musa Al-Taamari, the striker of the French club Rennes, was the only player on Jordan’s World Cup roster who is active in one of the five major European leagues, which reflects the need to increase the number of professional players in more powerful competitions in order to raise the technical level of the team in the future.
Despite not scoring any points in the tournament, Al-Salami expressed his complete satisfaction with the spirit shown by the players, stressing that the technical and moral gains that the team achieved outweighed the numerical results.
He said: “All of this represents an experience for the players. I am proud of what they presented and happy with what we achieved. I hope for a great future for Jordanian football and that it will be present in the upcoming World Cup tournaments.”
Despite the end of the global journey in the group stage, the technical staff of the Jordanian national team believes that the first participation in the World Cup represents a starting point towards a new stage, after the players gained valuable experience facing teams of the highest levels, in addition to highlighting their technical abilities, which may open the door for more of them to have professional experiences in more competitive leagues, which will reflect positively on the future of Jordanian football in the coming years.
