“It was a very rewarding experience. We know where we are now and this is only the start.” This was the upbeat message Jordan goalkeeper Rand Albustanji had for FIFA.com as she reflected on her country’s very first appearance at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.
After suffering three defeats and saying their tournament goodbyes against New Zealand, the young Jordanians departed the pitch at the Prince Mohammed International Stadium with understandably long faces. By the time they arrived in the mixed zone to face the media, however, their spirits had lifted and their supporters had massed by the team bus to offer them their support. Summoning up a big smile, Albustanji said: “Despite the three defeats and the many goals we conceded, we picked up a lot of useful experience for the future. This was the first major competition for our team and we’ve never been exposed to this level before.”
Albustanji played in all three of her side’s matches and saw all 16 of the goals they conceded go past her. She nevertheless made 23 saves, the highest total of the group phase and registered a save success rate of 60.5 percent: “Those figures show that I was under constant pressure in every game. That’s only to be expected because our opponents were a lot more experienced than us. I did all I could not to concede and I’ve learned a lot from this experience, even though it was tough.”
You could be forgiven for thinking that Albustanji has been keeping goal from a very early age. As she explained, however, she only took up the job two and a half years ago, having previously been a right winger: “I decided to pull the gloves on before the qualifiers for the AFC U-14 Girls' Regional Championship for the West zone in 2014 (which hosts Jordan went on to win). There were two reasons why: the goalkeeper is half of the team and you get as much of a kick out of making a save as you do scoring a goal.
Albustanji has two role models, players who have the very qualities she is looking for: Jordan’s national team captain Amer Shafi, and Spain star Iker Casillas, a world and European champion.
Making progress
Team captain Luna Sahloul then took her turn to assess the hosts’ performance: “I’m proud because we were the first Jordan team to play in a global competition. We expected the games to be tough: football is something you learn from an early age. The other teams have all been learning the game for longer than us and I think that worked in their favour. We’ve laid the first stone for women’s football here, which is developing, and it’s a big step forward for us.”
A central defender, Sahloul had a busy tournament trying to stem opposition attacks. “Every opponent I faced had something different to offer, whether it was pace, skill, physical strength or tactical awareness," she said. "We had to go through these defeats if we’re going to develop. We’re going to keep working hard to be as good and as fast as we can possibly be.”
Fellow defender Alanoud Ghazi, went even further in her analysis: “There was a big gap between us and our opponents. It’s the first time that we’ve taken part in a global competition. We gave our all, but a year and a half of training without any official matches is nothing compared to five years and more of playing in major national and continental tournaments.”
She added: “We can’t let our heads drop. My team-mates and I are proud of having taken on teams who have a big head start on us. We are going to keep on being brave and be just as determined to keep on progressing. I hope to move up to the senior team and play in the 2018 AFC Women’s Asian Cup with my heroes: the defenders Ayah Al Majali and Yasmeen Khair. Yasmeen has always been a role model for me because I want to be every bit as brave and composed as she is on the pitch. I’ve only been playing in defence for a couple of years.”
While the young Jordanians came away with no points to show from their three games, they now possess more self-belief than ever and are looking forward to a bright future. Aware of the path they now have to take, they know that with hard work and dedication they can continue to make progress and embark on exciting new challenges.
Sources: FIFA.com, FIFA/Getty Images
Source: the-afc.com