AMMAN (Jordan) - Jordan might not have come away with victories in the last two games at the FIBA U18 Asia Cup 2024, but they should be proud to consider this campaign a win.
"Hopefully we're gonna see much more of this for years to come, where making the World Cup is gonna become a norm."
After all, it's not every year that they can say they made it to the Semi-Finals and qualified for a U19 Basketball World Cup. As a matter of fact, the last time they did so was nearly 30 years ago in 1995.
Standout Saif Al-deen Saleh had mentioned that the team had "talked about this for 2-3 months" and that this was the goal of the team.
"You set your goals high and you try to make them reality."
Now as the dust settles, they can finally take some to properly celebrate the big accomplishment that it is.
"The tournament now is over, so our focus is on the big achievement Jordan basketball did in this tournament - qualifying for the World Cup next year in Switzerland," said coach Wesam Al-Sous after the last game of the competition.
"Being among the top 16 teams in the world for U19, I think it's a big achievement for this country - for the basketball in Jordan, for the development of this game."
It was an impressive effort from start to finish for Jordan. From a narrow loss to eventual finalists New Zealand to a historic win over the Philippines to a grind-it-out victory over Qatar in overtime, to the win over Korea in the Quarter-Finals, the hosts of this U18 Asia Cup displayed that they belonged among the Semi-Finalists.
Even if they could not defeat Australia in the Semi-Finals and lost to China for bronze, this will be a run to remember for Jordan basketball.
"We had tough games, close games every game, almost - with Qatar, it went into overtime. The guys gave everything. We let the game [against China] slip away when it was a three-point game. But we gave it our all," said Rawhi Zeid Kilani.
But now, it's on to the next big stage in the upcoming year.
"Hopefully, you'll see us in the World Cup."
"For us, it's the first time in 30 years that we made it to the World Cup. It goes from all the guys to the coaches, we all [gave] everything."
"Hopefully we're gonna see much more of this for years to come, where making the World Cup is gonna become a norm in Jordan. Hopefully."
FIBA