The head coach of the Olympic (U-23) football team, Dario Basic, will lead the team in its first international match against Bahrain on June 5 and 8 since his appointment earlier last year.
The U-23 players are undergoing a camp in Bahrain. The training sessions started on Friday under the supervision of the Croatian coach in Manama city.
The camp is focusing on improving the fitness and physical sides of the team members after the long break since its last appearance in March. The team players are having two training sessions daily including gymnasium training in morning sessions while implementing some tactical practices during evening sessions.
The 19-day external camp is part of the team’s preparation for the Asian Olympic Qualifiers that will take place in October. The finals of the AFC Asian (U-23) will be held in September 2022 in Uzbekistan from September 6 to 25.
Coach Basic’s boys are gearing up for the friendly games against the Bahrain team on June 5 and 8. Both matches will give Basic and his assistant Mohammed Khamis better idea on the Omani players’ technical readiness.
The current squad is promoted from the U-19 team as the Olympic league did not occur in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons due to the pandemic situation.
The Croatian coach, who took charge for the Olympic team since early 2020, had led the team in four training camps. The first two warm-up camps were in the first quarter of 2020 and the team had stopped training due to the pandemic. The squad restarted training last November with an internal camp while the fourth internal camp was held last March. The team had depended on the local friendly matches during that domestic camp and could not have any international preparatory matches due to the Covid-19 situation.
The Oman Olympic team will take part in many upcoming events including the Islamic Solidarity Games in Turkey for which the dates will be confirmed soon by the organizing committee. The GCC Games in Kuwait is another event set to be finalized later.
Oman U-23 squad: Essam al Makhzoomi, Faisal al Harthy, Arshad al Alawi, Yahya al Hudaifi, Awadh al Shari, Hussain al Shari, Najeeb al Shujaibi, Jasim al Noubi, Fahad Bait Obaidan, Essa al Naabi, Saud al Habsi, Al Baraa al Maawali, Islam al Hinai, Fahad al Hajri, Ibrahim al Rajhi, Yusuf al Malki, Abdullah al Balushi, Hani al Nuaimi, Musab al Maamari, Yusuf al Shiyadi, Mohammed al Buraiki, Marwan al Abdulsalam, Hani al Qartoubi and Qasim Mubarak.
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