Muscat: Oman’s Abdullah Fawaz was the star of the match as he netted winning goals and gave Oman the winning points as they defeated a fighting Afghanistan 2-1 late on Friday at Jassim bin Hamed Stadium in Doha in the Group E qualifier matches of 2022 Fifa World Cup and 2023 AFC Asian Cup.
The first leg match ended for the Sultanate team with a 3-0 victory over Afghanistan in October 2019.
With the triumph, Oman sealed a direct spot for 2023 AFC Asian Cup after snatching three points and reached in the tally to 15 points behind Qatar which completed the qualifier matches as the topper of the group by 22 points. Registering a draw or victory in the upcoming match against Bangladesh on Tuesday will confirm the Sultanate’s team presence for the third time in the final round of 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifier.
Abdullah Fawaz put the national team ahead in the match as he scored the opening goal in the 14th minute as he hit a strong ball from distance that went to the net.
Nine minutes later, a header from Afghanistan’s Omid Popalzay equalised the result to 1-1. Fawaz approved his solid show and managed to return Oman into the lead with a similar scenario to the first goal as he struck the second goal which grant Oman the victory points.
After the match, the head coach of the national team Branko Ivankovic thanked all the payers for the significant win. “Congratulations to all the players for this important win. I remind all the players on the difficulty of the encounter. All the players were aware on snatching the match points and keep informing them on concentration during the match.,” he added.
The Croatian coach commented on team’s performance during the match as he said, ” Despite our determination, I expected difficulty in scoring as the opponent was depending on the defense side. At the end, our players managed to end the match on triumph status to keep us in joy and the fans in home,” he pointed out.''
The 67-year-old concluded his statement in the post match press conference that pandemic crises have negative impact on the national team. “Definitely, the Covid pandemic affected the national team as many domestic competitions were cancelled including the top-tier league. However, we hope that everything will be back to the normal situation soon to proceed with the extensive preparation plan for the upcoming events,” he ended.
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
