Hassan homes in on match sharpness

“The difference between this game and the games we played against Australia and Japan is the timing of the game as those games were played during the middle of the season,” said Hassan following only his second competitive game in charge of Jordan after succeeding Adnan Hamad following the completion of the final round of qualifiers in June.

“The players were a lot fitter, but now some of the players have only played five games and some have not played any games with their clubs.”

“At the beginning of the match we lost concentration, but we still managed to score,” added Hassan, who played for Egypt at the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy.

“The players did not apply what I had told them, but we were still able to score a goal. We did have chances in the second half after I made some substitutions and that was good for us. It is still half-time and we will play the second game in Tashkent on Tuesday.”