Amman — The friendly match between the national football team and its Syrian counterpart, the day before yesterday, at King Abdullah II Stadium in Al-Quwaismeh, wasn't the picture observers had been waiting for, whether on the technical side in new head coach Badou Zaki's first appearance, or on the organizational level surrounding the match.
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The national team, in its first appearance under Zaki's leadership, seemed far from the expected technical picture, in a match that lacked many clear tactical details, amid changes and experiments that didn't help give the team a stable shape, especially as this was the first match for the Moroccan coach, who took over the role succeeding his compatriot Jamal Sellami.
Although friendly matches give a coach the chance to test as many players as possible and assess their readiness, the national team appeared, for long stretches, disjointed, struggling to build attacks and reach Syria's goal, alongside gaps between the lines, which left the performance lacking the identity Jordanian fans had grown accustomed to seeing over the past period.
The national team resumes training in preparation for its second friendly, hosting Venezuela's national team on October 6, in a fresh test of the coach's choices and technical plans.
Perhaps what observers took away most from the match is that Zaki still has significant work ahead of him in rearranging the national team's cards, especially since he chose to rely on a group of new names and experiments, in an attempt to assess the players' abilities before entering upcoming official competitions.
The first experience revealed the technical staff's need for more time to impose its ideas, especially since the national team sometimes appeared to be playing without clear connection between its lines, with an absence of organized attacking solutions and an unstable style of play throughout the match, after shifting from a 3-4-3 to a 4-3-3.
Naturally, no final judgment can be made on Zaki's tenure from a single match, given the short preparation period and the friendly nature of the fixture, but the first appearance left ample room for question marks about the team's shape going forward, and the technical staff's ability to use the coming period to build a clear identity for the team.
The problem wasn't limited to the result or the level of certain players, but extended to the overall picture the national team presented, as clear tactical patterns were absent for many stretches, while the team failed to impose its style on its Syrian opponent.
Syria's national team, by contrast, appeared more organized at certain stages of the match, capitalizing on spaces and the national team's retreat, while the "Nashama" needed individual solutions more than relying on collective play.
Friendly matches remain a suitable space for a coach to experiment, but that doesn't remove the need for initial signs of the team's identity to appear, especially when it comes to a national team that reached the World Cup for the first time in its history, with expectations around it now greater than ever.
If the technical side carried many question marks, the organization surrounding the match was no better, after a number of observations emerged that were reflected in the overall picture of the fixture.
The match saw a number of organizational shortcomings, whether related to media handling, the mechanism for covering the match, or the image reaching viewers, which made the occasion fall short of the event's stature and the value of a national team playing its first match after its historic World Cup participation.
Perhaps what drew the most frustration from observers was the modest quality of the television broadcast, as the image appeared, in parts of the match, below the level expected for a match played by the national team, especially given the lack of required quality in conveying details and showing the atmosphere of the fixture.
The match was supposed to be an opportunity to present a distinguished image of the national team after its historic World Cup participation, with media and organizational coverage being part of that image, but the poor broadcast quality added a new item to the list of observations accompanying the fixture.
Beyond the television broadcast, media professionals struggled to conduct interviews in the mixed zone, due to the presence of fans at the site, which prompted players to head toward the bus instead of speaking with the media, amid a lack of organization and the chaos that accompanied the area.
Alongside this, the national team's substitutes' bench appeared unsuitable, after 5 players sat on seats beside the bench, due to it not being large enough for the technical and administrative staff and the players, forcing them to sit in a way that didn't match the professional image usually expected in international matches.
There appears to be a real need to review the organizational and media details surrounding the national team's matches, especially since the "Nashama" have entered a new phase after their World Cup appearance, requiring the image outside the pitch, as much as inside it, to be more professional and organized.
Resource: A-Ghad. Reporting: Muhannad Jweiles
