Mousa al-Tamari carries Jordan’s hopes into first World Cup | OneFootball

Mousa al-Tamari, the only Jordanian in the five major European leagues, will spearhead the nation at their first World Cup and aims to clear the group stage. Jordan finish Group J against Lionel Messi’s Argentina in Dallas on 28 June (4.00).

According to L'Équipe, the Rennes attacker, 29, has 77 caps and produced seven goals and 11 assists in 36 club games last season. He dislikes the ‘Jordanian Messi’ nickname and says he is simply the Jordanian Mousa al-Tamari.

Al-Tamari is close to crown prince Hussein bin Abdullah, who often shares his highlights and even called after a Ligue 1 knock to speak to Rennes’ doctor.

Ranked 63rd by FIFA, Al-Nashama are outsiders alongside Austria, Algeria and Argentina, yet he points to progress. Jordan reached the 2023 Asian Cup final, losing 1-3 to Qatar, then the 2025 Arab Cup final, beaten 2-3 after extra time by Morocco. He says a first-round exit would disappoint, and promises fight to the end.

Coach Jamal Sellami, favouring a 3-4-3 built on transitions and set plays, thinks an upset is possible, citing Algeria’s 2-1 over the FRG in 1982 and Senegal’s 1-0 against France in 2002. He calls Al-Tamari the team’s standard-bearer and a leader who scored seven in World Cup qualifying.

With forward Yazan al-Naimat sidelined by a cruciate knee injury from last December’s Arab Cup, Al-Tamari and striker Ali Olwan carry the main threat. Analyst Karim el-Idrissi notes he is a wing-back for Rennes but plays higher for Jordan, from the flank or as a 10 or false nine, with more freedom. That licence unravelled in a 1-4 defeat to Switzerland on 31 May when a high press on a goal-kick invited a goal in three passes and 11 seconds and brought a post-match rebuke.

Source: L'Équipe