Muscat: Oman secured their spot in the quarterfinals at the inaugural edition of 2021 Fifa Arab Cup after defeating Bahrain 3-0 late on Monday at Ahmed bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan city, Qatar.
With the triumph, 'Red Warriors' confirmed their attendance in the last eight round taking the advantage of Qatar’s victory over Iraq with the same result at Al Bayat Stadium.
The Sultanate of Oman team will meet Tunisia in the next round on Friday at Education City Stadium while Qatar will take on UAE in a Gulf Cup clash.
Al Mundher al Alawi, Arshad al Alawi and Khalid al Hajri were the match stars after showing top performance and scoring the teams goals.
The head coach of the team, Branko Ivankovic, expressed his joy post the encounter. “I am very glad with the team’s victory and moving to the next round in the championship. The team players delivered top show and created many scoring attempts against a tough Bahraini team. The players deserve this crucial triumph,” he added in the press meet after the game."
The Croatian coach told the press meet that players showed top performance. “After the opening goal, the team did not went back but we enhanced our attacking towards Bahrain’s side and managed to score more goals. Some players played for the first time in Bahrain match and they produced a perfect attendance in the game. The goalkeeper Ibrahim al Mukhaini was one of the match stars and he was very confident,” he said.
Responding to an inquiry on the forthcoming game against Tunisia, the 67-year-old answered that the team will prepare well for the encounter. “ Tunisia is a strong team in Africa and I am respecting all the teams. Our focus is to enter all the games with victory target and vibes,” he said
Coach Ivankovic concluded his statement in the press conference that the team deserved the triumph since the opening match against Iraq and in the following game against Qatar. However, the players proved in the concluding game their worth to move into the quarterfinal round.
Oman ended their group matches as runner up with four points. The team commenced the campaign with a 1-1 draw from Iraq after falling 2-1 to Qatar. Then, the team registered a 3-0 win over Bahrain in the final group game. Qatar topped the group with full standing at nine points.
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