- Musa Al-Taamari is a pillar of Jordan’s nationwide crew
- He believes Al-Nashama can progress to the decisive spherical of Qatar 2022 qualifiers
- The participant is now starring in Belgium after making his mark in Cyprus
Keen to proceed attaining his lengthy listing of bold targets, Musa Al-Taamari has had a promising begin to his soccer journey as he hurries to build up expertise and develop his expertise. The younger winger carries the hopes of a great many Jordanians, who would like to see him elevate his nation’s profile in main worldwide tournaments, foremost of which is the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™.
With solely three video games left in Group B of the AFC qualifiers for Qatar 2022, Jordan must win all of them to ensure qualification for the following spherical. Waiting in retailer are Kuwait (with whom they share 10 factors), Nepal, and group leaders Australia (12 factors) for what is going to successfully be three finals.
Jordanians are banking on their star Al-Taamari and his skilled team-mates to carry one thing further to the crew and assist them into the area’s remaining qualifying spherical for less than the second time. The first time Jordan went that far was within the Brazil 2014 qualifiers, going all the best way to the CONMEBOL-AFC intercontinental play-off, the place they misplaced to Uruguay.
“We know full well that we can’t afford to drop any points,” Al-Taamari mentioned of the qualifiers. “We’ll method each match with the purpose of successful it. We’re assured we’ll carry out as we all the time have (enjoying with a combating spirit) in order to realize victory.”
Building on previous successes
Next week, Al-Taamari and the remainder of the squad will collect for a coaching camp in Dubai, the place Jordan will play friendlies in opposition to Iraq and Syria. That shall be a chance to carry the all of the group collectively, having not performed a global for months as a result of coronavirus.
Building on some high quality efficiency and outcomes on the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, Al-Nashama have the potential to return again strongly and hold their hopes alive within the present World Cup qualifiers. At the aforementioned Asian Cup, Jordan beat Australia and Syria to prime their first-round group.
“We went to that competition determined to show our strength and prove we had a lot to offer in games against the biggest teams,” mentioned Al Taamari. “What we achieved in the first round gave us a lot of confidence to build on in the future.”
Jordan may properly have superior additional within the UAE, however their last-16 defeat to Vietnam left a wound from which the crew and the coaches purpose to be taught.
“Everything was going well until that game. It was one of those days when you feel football is not fair to you. We had no luck converting our chances or even our penalties [in the shoot-out]. Perhaps we wasted a historic opportunity to go far at that tournament.”
A European journey
Although nonetheless 23, Al-Taamari has a mature outlook and is aware of precisely what he must do. After rising to stardom within the Jordanian league with Shabab Al-Ordon and Aljazeera, he wished to fast-track his progress. In the summer season of 2018, he moved to Cyprus to play for APOEL, the place he had a powerful first season and and helped the membership win the league and the Cypriot Super Cup.
Unsurprisingly, followers voted Al-Taamari the very best participant within the league and the very best left-winger amongst international gamers for the 2018/19 season. He was additionally chosen by a number of pundits for his or her crew of the yr.
“It was the perfect season for me,” he mentioned. “I wanted to show my best, and thank God I succeeded. With APOEL I reached new heights, especially as I played in the UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Champions League. When you play against big names like Ajax and Sevilla, who have won European titles, you know you are competing at the very top.”
Al-Taamari then moved to the Belgian Pro League final month after signing for Oud-Heverlee Leuven. And although the season was already eight video games previous, he was quickly within the thick of the motion, dealing with heavyweights Anderlecht and Club Brugge.
“After the Cypriot league, I had to move to a championship where I could get closer to top European standards. In Belgium there are many big clubs that always feature in the Europa League and the Champions League. I soon saw the difference between Cyprus and Belgium. Here you spend more hours at your club and could have to attend two training sessions a day, several times a week.”
Al-Taamari needs to profit from the Belgian expertise as a lot as potential. “I have a number of objectives I want to achieve there: to develop my physical skills in terms of speed and running stats during games; to be able to carry out attacking and defence duties at the same time, while improving some other details that are important for every professional footballer.”
Al-Taamari has gained the backing of all Jordanians over the previous two years. Now that he’s enjoying within the Belgian league, he shall be watched much more intently to see what he can accomplish there. In addition to being an envoy for Jordanian soccer in Europe, he stays one of many central pillars of the nationwide crew and somebody on whom great hopes have been pinned.
