Muscat: The Oman national football team concluded the third overseas camp in Dubai on Sunday on a bright note after two victories in the friendlies that were part of the warm-up camp.
The second victory for ‘Red Warriors’ was recorded against Indonesia 3-1 on Saturday while Oman beat Thailand 1-0 in the initial preparatory match last Tuesday.
The opening goal of the Sultanate team against Indonesia match was scored by Mohsin al Ghassani in the 40th minute while Khalid al Hajri helped seal a 3-1 victory with a brace in the 77th and 88th minutes.
In the first match, Abdulaziz al Maqbali hit the lone goal for Oman.
In both fixtures, Oman head coach Branko Ivankovic preferred to stick with the same tactical system and players remained the same as in the first friendly match against Thailand.
This hints at Oman’s possible starting list for the qualifier matches.
Fayez al Rushaidi was the goalkeeper while Juma al Habsi, Fahmi Rajab, Ali al Busaidy and Abdulaziz al Ghilani were in the defence. Abdullah Fawaz and Harib al Saadi controlled the mid-field. The youngsters Salah al Yahyaei and Zahir al Aghbari were assisting the attackers which were represented by Mohsin al Ghassani and Abdulaziz al Maqbali besides Khalid al Hajri. Al Mundher al Alaawi did not take part in both warm-up fixtures as he joined the squad after an injury.
Both friendlies have provided much-needed match practice and confidence to the Omani side ahead of the joint qulifiers of the 2022 Fifa World Cup and 2023 AFC Asian Cup Championship which will begin on Monday in Doha.
The external camp in Dubai will be followed by a short external camp in Doha prior to the start of the qualifier matches. Coach Ivankovic will target the third appearance of the national team in the final qualifier matches stage after making the mark in 2002 and 2014 qualifying tournaments.
Oman will resume joint qualifier with a top clash against Qatar on June 7 at Al Sadd club’s Jassim bin Hamed Stadium in Doha. They will take on Afghanistan on June 11 and will face Bangladesh in the concluding match on June 15 at the same venue in Doha.
The Sultanate 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.
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