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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Oman players fit and raring to go

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SHARJAH, JAN 7 - Oman trained under the watchful eyes of head coach Pim Verbeek at the Sharjah Stadium on Monday ahead of their key Asian Cup opening match against Uzbekistan on January 9.
Oman’s seasoned defender Mohammed al Musallami told Oman Observer that the team is ready for the big match against Uzbekistan in Group F.
“We are ready for the opening match. All of our players are fit and raring to go,” the Dhofar player said.
“We don’t have any injury concerns and the head coach will decide about the final eleven for the match against Uzbekistan.”
Another defender Mohammed Fareq al Rawahi said the preparatory matches will do a world of good for the Oman team.
“Our friendly matches against India, Australia and Thailand have definitely helped us with good match experience before the tournament,” the player from Qatar’s Al Wakra Club said.
“No matter the results, these matches helped us identify our strong and weak points. We have worked on that and hopefully will achieve positive results in the Asian Cup,” Al Rawahi added.
Both Oman and Uzbekistan are ranked 14 by the AFC and Uzbekistan have six appearances at the Asian Cup with a best result of reaching the quarterfinals in 2015. Oman have never gone beyond the first round in their three appearances.
However, Oman are ahead in the Fifa ranking with 82nd rank whereas Uzbeks have the 95th rank.




UZBEKISTAN CONFIDENT


Meanwhile, Uzbekistan, who won the AFC Under-23 Championship 2018 in China, also are staying confident for the Oman match.


“We have a mixture of young and experienced players. We need to start with a win in the Asian Cup,” Uzbekistan Football Association media manager Yakub said.


“We want to make an impact at the Asian level. We will go into all preliminary round matches with an aim to win,” he said.


Former Egypt and Valencia coach Hector Cooper will design the plans for the ambitious Uzbek side.


“Our ultimate aim is to qualify for the World Cup and Asian Cup performance will be a stepping stone in this regard.”


“We are also eagerly looking forward to our match against Japan also to prove our credentials,” the Uzbek official told Observer.


Yakub said they have high regard for Oman side and coach Verbeek.


“It will be an interesting game with Oman having a tactician like Dutchman Verbeek. It will be also a match between the tactics of both these well-renowned coaches,” he concluded.



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