The Jordanians endured a 5-1 loss to the Socceroos in Sydney last night in only the second game at the helm for household name Harry Redknapp.
Being friendly to Jordan, they were competitive for the first 15 minutes, however, then fell away and suffered heavy pressure from an in-form Australian team.
Redknapp said no-one was to blame after the loss and actually had admiration for the way his players held together, despite the one-sided scoreline.
“It’s not their fault, they did and tried their best, but they were beaten by a better team. People have to understand,” Redknapp said.
“If Australia play Spain next week they’d probably get beaten 5-0, that’s because they’re a better team and they have better players. That’s how the game is unfortunately, they were stronger fitter and a better team.
“I came in, I got to be truthful, I don’t know the players, I’m relying on other people who plays where and who’s good and bad. We picked what we thought was the best team.
“Apart from Australia, we’re the better than the other teams, it’s just that Australia is the best team in the group.”
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In the face of his defensive approach for his players, he highlighted the negatives in the squad. The ex-Tottenham Hotspur manager indicated there was a lack of resources in the Jordanian team, which made it hard for them to succeed.
“I’ve been here six days, players are the players, I can’t suddenly bring Ronaldo in,” he joked.
“There’s a lot of work to do, there’s so much work needs doing if Jordan is going to move on. Having spent five or six days, the whole structure of the setup, it needs so much work it’s really not at the level.
“If we’re going to take it on there’s stuff that needs to be done. We have no analyst, we don’t have anything on the opposition, we don’t have a sport scientist, there’s so much work that needs doing.
“The players are short of fitness, most of them play in Jordan and their fitness levels are not high enough. When they play against better teams they struggle for fitness.”
With Australian football improving in the last two years, Redknapp also took the time to praise and compliment Ange Postecoglou’s team.
“I thought they had a lot of quality in their team tonight, lads in midfield were really good tonight,” he said.
“They had lots of space to play, they picked their passes, and they kept possession well. They were very solid all round I thought.
“They’ve got some strength in depth and like they’ve always been, they’re always competitive no matter who they play, I’m sure it’ll be no different in the next year or two.”
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