MUSCAT, May 1 - The organisers of the first Fifa Arab Cup Qatar 2021 announced the dates of the qualifiers. Oman will meet Somalia on September 1 in Doha ahead of the tournament group stage that will be held after two months.
Six fixtures will be played on September 1 as Bahrain will take on Kuwait in a top Gulf clash while Jordan will meet South Sudan. Lebanon will clash with Djibouti while Palestine will take on Comoros and Libya will face Sudan. The date for Mauritania and Yemen match is not yet confirmed.
The winners of the play-off will qualify for the finals of the showpiece event.
Meanwhile, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) announced the venues of the joint qualification of the 2022 Fifa World Cup and 2023 AFC Asian Cup Championship.
The fifth group (E) matches will be held at Al Sadd club’s Jassim bin Hamed Stadium in Doha.
Oman will play against Qatar on June 7 while they will take on Afghanistan on June 11 and will face Bangladesh in the concluding match on June 15.
Oman are currently positioned second in Group E with 12 points while Asian champions Qatar are topping the group with 13 points from five games. Afghanistan are placed third with four points. India (3 points) and Bangladesh (1 point) are in the third and fourth positions respectively.
18-day training
camp in dubai
Oman national football team will conclude on Wednesday the first part of the overseas training camp which is under way in Dubai.
The 18-day external gathering did not feature any friendly matches and involved evening period technical and tactical sessions. The main purpose of the camp is to keep the players fit especially with the decision to cancel 2020-21 top domestic league.
The ‘Red Warriors’ are performing the daily training classes under supervision of the experienced Croatian coach Branko Ivankovic.
The second phase of the preparation plan will resume after Eid holidays as the next overseas camp is scheduled from May 16 to 30. Two matches are arranged during the second part of the camp — against Thailand and Indonesia on May 25 and 29 respectively.
The Dubai external warm-up camp is part of team’s preparation for the joint qualification of the 2022 Fifa World Cup and 2023 AFC Asian Cup Championship that will be held in Doha next June, Fifa Arab Cup Qatar 2021 in December and Arabian Gulf Cup in Iraq.
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
