Jordan recorded a 3-1 win over New Zealand's All Whites in an international friendly at Abu Dhabi's New York University Stadium on January 28, a result which earned coach Adnan Hamad a place in his nation's record books, and Chris Wood a New Zealand footballing record which has stood since May 2006. With this victory, Hamad became the most successful Jordanian national team coach of all time - it's the 35th triumph Hamad has overseen in his two spells - 81 matches in total - in charge of "The Chivalrous", as the team is known, surpassing the 34 wins amassed by one of his numerous predecessors, Mahmoud El-Gohary. This match was the latest step in Jordan's preparations for June's Asian Cup qualifiers, while for the All Whites, this international window marks their last hit-out before the Oceania World Cup qualifying tournament takes place in Qatar in March. Neither side began their first match of 2022 in a manner in which they'll want to continue, with  both guilty of misplaced passes aplenty in the early stages of a contest which saw Ali Olwan and Sarpreet Singh exchange rangefinders inside the first ten minutes of play. Singh set up a chance for Chris Wood two minutes later, but the All Whites' talisman only drew a smothering save from Malek Shalabiya, who was making his debut in goal for Jordan at the unlikely age of 33. The All Whites continued to threaten, going close through Elijah Just on the quarter hour after good work by Marko Stamenic, a finalist for the Emerging Talent honour at the upcoming Halberg Awards, the first New Zealand footballer to be recognised in this category. It was the Jordanians who opened the scoring, however, a tad against the run of play halfway through the first half. It was a super move which prised open the All Whites rearguard, with Yazan Al-Naimat and Musa Al-Tamaari combining neatly on the right, the latter's first-time pass sending Olwan spearing through the inside right channel, from where he beat Michael Woud all ends up at his near post with a fierce drive struck from an acute angle. The All Whites looked to get back on level terms swiftly, and in the 28th minute should have been awarded a penalty by United Arab Emirates referee Ahmed Eisa Mohamed when Wood was clattered into from behind in the area. The official, as he did on a number of occasions throughout this match, turned a blind eye to the incident - he let an awful lot go in this contest, make no mistake! Seconds later, however, a seemingly innocuous challenge by Ihsan Haddad on Francis de Vries prompted the official to point to the penalty spot. Now it was Jordan's turn to be enraged - fair enough, too, because this challenge barely merited the awarding of anything. But Haddad gave Mr Mohamed a near-instant opportunity to make amends for his dereliction of duty where the challenge on Wood was concerned, and the whistle-blower grabbed it with both hands. After the complaints had died down, Wood stepped up and slammed home the spot-kick on the half-hour, in doing so becoming the most prolific All Whites goalscorer in the history of all matches played by New Zealand's national team, be they full internationals or friendly fixtures against foreign clubs, state teams, et al. When Vaughan Coveny bagged a brace of goals in a 3-1 win over Georgia in May 2006, it took him to 30 goals for his country in all matches. Prior to that contest, he had shared the title of New Zealand's most prolific scorer with Jock Newall, who scored 28 goals for his country in just thirteen months, between August 1951 and September 1952. Wood drew level with Coveny with his brace of goals against Gambia in November. And his 31st goal in an All Whites shirt came eleven years and three months after he opened his account for his country at senior level - he has scored seven goals for other NZ representative sides - in a 1-1 draw with Honduras in Auckland in October 2010. Unfortunately, parity was short-lived in this match, for after Wood had flicked Winston Reid's raking ball forward into the path of Logan Rogerson - Shalabiya dashed off his line to save at the striker's feet, Jordan regained the lead from the penalty spot in the 33rd minute. Having conceded the spot-kick at the other end of the park, Haddad was more eager than most to make amends, and his regular forays down the right were rewarded on this occasion, his low cross being handled by the sliding figure of de Vries as the fullback attempted to block the delivery.

Even referee Mohamed couldn't ignore this one, and duly pointed to the spot, from where Al-Tamaari rattled home the penalty, although Woud came close to denying him - the 'keeper was a tad disappointed at not being able to keep out the effort. Woud was soon in action again, grabbing a rasping drive from Mahmoud Al-Mardi at the second attempt. And after Wood had gone close with a twelve yard header on receipt of a pinpoint cross from Just, who hurdled a challenge before delivering high quality from the left flank, Jordan went close to increasing their advantage on the stroke of half-time. Stamenic had his pocket picked just inside Jordan's half by Al-Tamaari, who stormed away on a diagonal fifty yard run, drawing defenders with him, before touching the ball into the stride of Al-Naimat, making an angled run in behind his team-mate. The striker duly let fly, only for Tim Payne to block the effort to safety. Danny Hay's charges looked to get back on level terms for a second time early in the second half through Singh, whose twenty yard free-kick arced over the defensive wall but cleared the crossbar by an ever-reducing yard two minutes after the resumption of play. That was the only highlight of note until the 63rd minute, with play in between times being somewhat cat and mouse in nature, the amount of perspiration in evidence not matched by the penetrative play necessary to raise the level of the game out of the mediocre to ordinary range. Come the 63rd minute, however, Stamenic had taken it upon himself to try and lift the level of the performance via some driving runs. On this occasion, he linked with Singh, whose deft pass invited Rogerson to level the scores. His penchant for not looking across the line before making his run hasn't been coached out of him now that he's playing in a professional environment, however, but it was just as well for Rogerson that the offside flag was raised, because his finish was a horror show, skying a terrific chance from close range - nowhere near good enough for this level of football. Two minutes later, Wood's delightful flick played Just in beyond the advancing figure of Shalabiya, but his failure to control the ball at the critical moment allowed Muhannad Khairullah to avert the danger. Jordan responded to these scares by squandering a glorious chance to clinch victory halfway through the second spell. An opening was worked on the right - an avenue down which they made plenty of progress throughout proceedings - culminating in a cross from Haddad being cleared to Olwan, who sent the ball soaring over the bar from ten yards out. Seventeen minutes from time, Clayton Lewis - a torrid performance - intercepted a pass and instantly fed Just, who clipped the ball into Wood, lurking in the penalty area. He held the ball up in true targetman fashion before laying it back for Just, who drilled a twenty yarder over the top. Back came Jordan, Al-Tamaari on manoeuvres once more, working one-twos with Olwan and substitute Saleh Ratib before lashing a twenty yarder over the bar, something Olwan didn't do ten minutes from time - he drilled a fifteen-yarder through Woud's legs at his near post to clinch victory after receiving a pass following Ratib's fine run at the All Whites' defence. Chasing the game, Danny Hay gave debuts to Dalton Wilkins and Alex Greive, and it was the latter who caught the eye in his brief time on the park, especially two minutes from time, when his darting run through the inside left channel was brought to a premature conclusion by Haddad's agricultural challenge, the free-kick arising from which was squandered by Callum McCowatt. The All Whites will take plenty from this 3-1 defeat, one which revealed the importance of the absent Stefan Marinovic, Liberato Cacace and Joe Bell to a team which takes on Uzbekistan in Dubai on 1 February, their last hit-out before the Oceania World Cup qualifying tournament takes place in Qatar in March. Jordan:          Shalabiya; Haddad (booked, 87), Naseeb, Khairullah, Abu Hasheesh; Al-Tamaari (Sadeh, 84), Abdel-Rahman (Al-Dardour, 84), Al-Rawabdeh (booked, 63), Al-Mardi (Abu Zaraiq, 66); Olwan (Hani, 84), Al-Naimat (Ratib, 73) All Whites:     Woud; Tuiloma, Reid (Smith, 69), Payne, de Vries (Wilkins, 81); Lewis (booked, 62), Singh (McCowatt, 69), Stamenic, Just (Greive, 81); Rogerson (Champness, 81 (booked, 90)), Wood Referee:     Ahmed Eisa Mohamed (United Arab Emirates)