They call Musa Al-Tamari "
the
Jordanian
Messi
."
He is the leader of the
Desert Warriors
who have just made history.
We are talking about the Jordanian
soccer team
, a team that has never played in a World Cup, is number 87 in the FIFA ranking and has just reached the final of the
Asian Cup
, after beating South Korea, a country with a soccer tradition ( so much so that they beat CR7's Portugal in Qatar) that they have already won the continental tournament twice.
It's worth saying, nobody (not even the toughest) gave a penny for Jordan.
Or a euro.
So much so that in bets he paid almost five times more than his rival.
A Jordanian victory earned 7 euros, a draw 4 and the Koreans, who were the great candidates to reach the final, barely gave 1.53.
But the Desert Warriors blew up the Alman-bin-Ali stadium in Qatar with 40,000 fans making themselves felt.
Although his biggest argument is football and starts at the feet of his Jordanian Messi,
Musa Al-Tamari
.
Jordan will play the host, Qatar, in the final of the Asian Cup.
Al-Tamari seeks to make football history.
And he is already writing it.
He was born in Amman, the most popular city in Jordan that mixes ruins with modern buildings, and is the first player from his country to set foot in one of the five major leagues in Europe.
Born in June 1997, he debuted at the age of 19 for Shabab Al-Ordon, then moved to AL-Jazeera and in 2018 he moved to APOEL in Cyprus.
He was champion of the First Division and the Super Cup, as well as MVP.
It is there that the Jordanian Messi is born.
And he makes the jump to Oh Leuven.
One season and he finally arrived at Montepellier in the French Ligue 1.
"I like one on one and I'm quick with the ball," he says and demonstrates it.
Like Messi, Al-Tamari usually starts from the right and faces the center of the field with his most skilled leg, his left foot.
And he was in that area this Wednesday in the semifinal between Jordan and South Korea when, at 8 minutes, he cut off a pass and enabled Yazan Al-Naimat (the other figure of the team that plays in Qatar) to score the 1 -0.
🔥 Yazan Al-Naimat is one of the figures of the surprising Jordan 🇯🇴 that reached the final of the Asian Cup.
But he has a peculiarity.
He only knows how to score great goals like the one he scored today against South Korea!
🧵 I show them to you in this thread.
You are welcome.
pic.twitter.com/eu9lwnu9h8
— Nahuel Lanzón (@nahuelzn) February 6, 2024
If the comparison with the Argentine number 10 seems exaggerated, Al-Tamari is on the way to being for Jordan what Salah means for Egypt.
Of course, in the semi-final of the Asian Cup he scored a great goal "a la Messi."
You just need to have eyes and memory to remember some of the two or three hundred goals that Leo has scored in that way: starting from the wing, dribbling, throwing the diagonal (sometimes horizontal) towards the crescent and scoring.
This was the great goal for the 2-0 against South Korea that decreed the historic passage to the final of the Asian Cup, this Saturday against Qatar.
#AsianCup2023
💪 JORDAN 🇯🇴 WILL PLAY FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE FINAL
📌 They beat South Korea 2-0 🇰🇷 and will go for the title against the winner of Qatar 🇶🇦 and Iran 🇮🇷.
🎯 53' Yazan Al-Naimat and 66' Mousa Al-Tamari.
🧞‍♂️ The 26-year-old Montpellier player is the star and scored the 2nd with this great goal.
pic.twitter.com/dNrw3LSBFL
— 🗞 En Realidad (@EnRealidaDiario) February 6, 2024
At that point, the madness of the Jordanians in the stands was total: "Here, in Jordan, he is a celebrity, because he has elevated Jordanian football to levels that we did not have before," a young man named Asid told Marca.
"If we win the Cup, it would be one of the biggest surprises in the history of football," added another fan, Ahmad Husami.
"It's as if Albania won the Euro Cup," they say.
Al-Tamari goes for history
Jordan 10 was tempted by Arab petrodollars.
But he had another desire: "
Since I was a child I wanted to play in one of the five major leagues
, but my mother wanted me to concentrate on my studies. It's not that she didn't believe in me, but she told me that it would be difficult to fulfill my dream in Jordan." , told of his arrival in Ligue 1.
Now that he has achieved his goal, Al-Tamari is not satisfied and is going for more: "I know that in my country they are proud of me, but being the first Jordanian to play in France is not the goal... I want more. I must show that I am capable of performing at this level and Montpellier is the perfect club.
Despite his talent, he had no problems when asked to play three.
Before finishing these lines, we must warn something: "I don't like being called the Jordanian Messi," warns Al-Tamari, who wants to write his story.
And he is doing it.