Harry Redknapp wins by eight goals on return to management with Jordan
Harry Redknapp began his international management career in impressive style, watching from the sidelines as his Jordan side hammered Bangladesh 8-0.
Redknapp has agreed a two game deal with the country, ranked 82nd in the world, after receiving an offer from Jordan FA president and one time candidate for the Fifa presidency Prince Ali bin Al Hussein.
His reign in western Asia got off to the perfect start as Hamza Al-Dardour nabbed a first half hat-trick to take Jordan to a 5-0 lead at the interval, with three in the second period securing the country’s biggest win in five years.
Jordan’s next game sees them take on Australia, two points ahead in World Cup qualifying Group B, and Redknapp is confident his side can pull off an upset in Sydney.
“I’ve been very impressed with the players, in training, playing,” he said in a post-match interview. “They are good players, you have some very good players in Jordan. The future for football in Jordan is good.
“It’ll be a tough game [against Australia] but we look forward to it.”
Despite his impressive start Redknapp, who is also consulting at Championship side Derby County, has made clear that he does not intend to stay at Jordan beyond the two upcoming qualifiers.
In his Standard Sport column earlier this month he wrote: “I spoke to Ray Wilkins, who was head coach at Jordan a while back, and he told me you’ll never meet a nicer guy than Prince Ali of Jordan. He was right…
“If I can get Derby promoted and help Jordan win those two games, I’ll be jumping around on touchlines as happy as I can be. That’ll be it. Then I’ll come back to what I was doing before — going over to the cafe and making the big daily decision of whether to have a cappuccino or a latte in the morning.”
ArticleRedknapp wins by eight goals on return to managementHarry Redknapp