Hesterine de Reus has warned Jordan’s rivals her side is here to win the 4th WAFF Women’s Championship, being held in Abu Dhabi.
Jordan finished runners-up at the last edition, but De Reus’ women underlined their title credentials on Monday night after thrashing Palestine 8-1 in Group A, in a lopsided second-half in which the winners scored seven goals.
Jordan took the lead through Stephanie Al Naber, but went into the break level after Walaa Hussein equalised for Palestine. It was one way traffic from Jordan in the second half as Maysa Jbarah scored five times and Mai Sweilem and Ayah Al Majali netted once each to complete the rout.
And former Netherlands international De Reus was confident her side will continue to improve as the tournament progresses. “A lot of countries are here to participate so obviously this is a very important to win,” said De Reus, who has completed a year in the hot seat after taking over in October last year.
“We finished second in the last tournament, but I wasn’t the coach then and this year our goal is to go one step further and take the title. I am confident that my team is in good shape and will get better over the next few games.”
Jordan, the 2010 Arabia Cup champions, started slowly as the match kicked-off in hot and humid conditions at the Sultan bin Zayed Stadium in the capital. But it was part of their game plan as they showed a completely different side in the second period.
Al Naber provided the opener powering home from close range and Hussein tapped in for Palestine to draw level.
Jbarah missed putting Jordan ahead soon after the restart, volleying wide from a corner, but scored in the 55th minute side-footing home from eight yards out. Four minutes later she went one-on-one with Palestine goalkeeper Nadin Al Kolayb and poked home her second.
Jbarah headed from the right into the far corner for her third and then tapped home twice either side of Sweilem and Majali’s goals.
De Reus added: “The girls are eager to win. There is good confidence and understanding in this group and they know how to play together.”
Elsewhere in the group, Bahrain beat Iraq 12-0, while the action in Group B gets underway on Tuesday night with hosts UAE facing Syria (kick-off 16.30) and Lebanon going head-to-head with Iran (kick-off 19.45).
