Muscat: Oman Olympic (U-23) football team is undergoing a camp in Salalah since Sunday. The 15 days preparatory 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 Championship will be held in Uzbekistan from September 6 to 25, 2022.
The coaching staff of the Olympic team headed by Croatian coach Dario Basic and assisted by Mohammed Khamis al Oraimi preferred Salalah for camp due to the pleasant weather condition these days in Dhofar governorate with monsoon season from June to September every year.
Oman’s senior national team player Zahir al Aghbari and his teammate Mohammed al Buraiki joined the squad on Tuesday after the former completed his participation with the national team in the second round of joint qualification matches in Qatar and qualifying match of 2021 Fifa Arab championship against Somalia.
Coach Dario focused on different technical and tactical sides including players' endurance and speed during the sessions.
The 27-member squad featured new faces who were absent in the last external camp in Bahrain including Mohammed Said (Dhofar), Waleed al Musalami (Al Mudhaibi) Omar al Salti (Al Oruba) and Faraj al Noubi (Al Khabourah). Many other members in the squad who took part in Bahrain camp are not available in Salalah camp including: Essam al Makhzoomi, Faisal al Harthy, Fahad Bait Obaidani and Marwan al Abdulsalam.
The Sultanate Olympic team had concluded recently the first overseas training camp in Bahrain. The external camp which lasted for 19 days featured two preparatory matches against Bahrain Olympic team. Oman suffered 1-0 defeats in both friendlies with the goal scored in the dying minutes.
U-23 head coach Dario Basic said in a previous statement that the doors are open for any talented players to be in the squad.
“The squad for Bahrain camp included new faces who joined recently in the national Olympic team and the players were playing together for the first time,” he said.
The Croatian coach pointed out that the Sultanate Olympic team delivered good show in both warm-up fixtures. The reason of the defeat in both games could be attributed to less technical experience and fitness levels of the players. Furthermore, improving players’ fitness level should become as priority for the team as it was the significant reason for the loss,” he said.
OMAN U-23 SQUAD: Yusuf al Shiyadi, Islam al Hinai, Essa al Naabi, Yahya al Hudaifi, Zaher al Aghbari, Al Nawras al Farsi, Al Baraa al Mawlai, Qasim Mubarak, Yusuf al Malki, Arshad al Alawi, Mohammed al Buraiki, Fahad al Hajri, Awadh al Shari, Hani al Qartoubi, Hani al Nuaimi, Hussain al Shari, Jasim al Noubi, Mohammed Said, Musab al Maamari, Abdullah al Balushi, Waleed al Musalami, Omar al Salti, Saud al Habsi, Najeeb al Shujaibi, Al Faraj al Noubi and Ibrahim al Rajhi.
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