Oman will chase a win against Afghanistan in their pre-concluding match of Group E of the joint qualifier for Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023. Coach Branko Ivankovic’s men will target the winning points that will boost Oman’s chances of advancing to the final round of qualifier as one of the best five-second-placed teams.
The victory against Afghanistan needs to be followed by a win or a draw against Bangladesh in their next match to confirm a spot in the next round. The match will start at 9:10 pm (Oman time) at Jassim bin Hamed Stadium (Al Sadd club) in Doha. Oman are an inch closer to their third presence in the final round of the joint qualifiers as they had qualified in 2002 and 2014.
The ‘Red Warriors’ went out fighting against Qatar 1-0 in their last match with Oman complaining against unfair decisions by the Sri Lankan referee, Chrishantha Dilan Perera.
Oman head coach Branko Ivankovic focused during the short break of three days from the Asian Championship match to maintain the recovery of the players who took part in the previous game. The training sessions featured the implementation of different tactical sides on the field.
It is expected that the 67-year-old coach will depend on the similar faces who took part in the last games. The Croatian coach may change Mohsin al Ghassani with Khalid al Hajri as Al Ghassani is yet to fully recover after an injury.
Oman will aim to repeat their 3-0 win in their last meeting at the Seeb Stadium in October 2019.
Afghanistan ended their match against Bangladesh in a 1-1 draw on June 3 and the concluding match is against India on Tuesday. They are positioned in fourth place and possess five points, one short of third-placed India. Asian champions Qatar are group champions with 22 points as they defeated Oman and India with a 1-0 score in the last few days. Oman are second with 12 points and the last match is scheduled against Bangladesh on Tuesday.
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