The Asian Cup kicks off tonight so the Home and Away don't mean too much. It's being held in the UAE, which is closer to Jordan if that counts for anything. When it comes to the quality of the team as well as recent form, Australia is miles ahead of Jordan.
Since their disastrous World Cup outing last year, Australia have been on a tear under new coach, Graham Arnold. Three wins and a draw, scoring 13 goals and letting only 1 in.
Jordan on the other hand have drawn 2 and lost 2 in their last 4 outings. They used to be considered a 2nd tier Asian team, below the likes of Japan, Korea, Saudi and Australia but they've fallen a few more notches in recent years.
One thing Jordan still has is a terrific keeper. Amer Shafi, at 36, is approaching retirement but he's still a brick wall. Rarely does Jordan concede more than 2 goals. That's how good he is.
The key for Australia though, is how their attacking talent lines up - in particular, Rogic and Ikonomidis. They were really sharp in their last game against Oman last week and they'll need to be as prolific if they're going to get past a Jordan team that's going to park the bus.
Overall, i think Australia has enough quality to win this and even put 2 past Shafi. Given how defensive Jordan are, a one goal victory's also possible so -1.5 goals is too risky for my liking.
Pick: Australia -1 @ 1.516
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