DALLAS: With their debut World Cup all but over, Jordan have nothing to lose when they face Argentina in their final group match in Texas today.
Defeats by Austria and Algeria mean Jamal Sellami’s team cannot progress to the Round of 32, but midfielder Amer Jamous insists Al-Nashama have no intention of shying away from the challenge of facing the reigning champions — even if Lionel Messi is on the team sheet.
Argentina have already secured their place in the knockout stages following back-to-back wins, prompting coach Lionel Scaloni to confirm he is likely to rotate his squad. Whether he rests Messi, who has scored all five of his country’s goals so far this month, remains to be seen.
Jamous hopes the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner will play. He told Arab News: “Messi is the best footballer in history, so we want him to play — 100 percent. It’ll be an honor for us to play against him. He’s Messi, so of course we are waiting for him and, inshallah, hope he will be ready. We will use it as a chance to prove to everyone that, even if he plays, we can play a big game.”
The Jordanian squad will return to Amman after the fixture, but Jamous insists the pressure is off as his side look to finish on a high against the three-time champions.
“We are on the biggest stage in football, and we will play against the reigning champions,” he said. “They have the best player in history, but we don’t have any pressure now. We are out, so we will go and enjoy our game and prove to everyone that we are a big team. Why not play a big game against Argentina and beat them?”
The task appears daunting whether or not Argentina’s talisman is on the pitch. If Messi sits it out, he will likely be replaced by Atletico Madrid striker Julian Alvarez. Yet Arab football has shown in recent years that Argentina can be beaten. Who can forget Saudi Arabia’s famous 2-1 victory at the last FIFA World Cup in Qatar?
Messi, who celebrated his 39th birthday on Wednesday, is now the tournament’s all-time leading goalscorer. He posted a video on social media this week that showed him weight-training and doing calisthenics in the gym.
Unsurprisingly, the physical preparations have done little to ease Jordanian concerns ahead of the match, but Algerian midfielder Ibrahim Maza offered a tongue-in-cheek solution when asked how his Arab brethren could stop the little magician: “My advice? Don’t let him have the ball!”
Maza, who played 81 minutes as Algeria were beaten 3-0 by Argentina, thanks to a Messi hat-trick, told Arab News: “No, really, my only advice would be to fight for every ball.”
Regardless of the result, Jamous believes the experience of competing against some of the world’s strongest nations will benefit Jordan in the long term.
“I want to say to the whole world, not only the Jordanian fans, that we will come back stronger next tournament,” he said.
“We have learned a lot from this tournament. We played against two big teams, Austria and Algeria. They have great players, but we proved to everyone that we are a good team too. We have great players, scored in both games, and learned many lessons. We are all very disappointed to be going home, but we will come back stronger, inshallah.”
