Muscat: The Sultanate of Oman football team concluded their journey at the 2021 Fifa Arab Cup in the quarterfinal after suffering a 2-1 defeat to Tunisia on Friday night.
The head coach of the national team, Branko Ivankovic, affirmed that the team took many advantages and gained more exposure from participation at the top footballing event in the Arab region. “The attendance in this event assisted many new faces and players to gain the required experience and facing tough teams,” he said during the press meet post the match.
The Croatian man congratulated the Tunisia team for advancing to the semifinals. “Congrats to the Tunisian team and I am wishing them good luck in the next round of the championship. It was a very tough game and the opponent was the best side during the encounter. I am not blaming the players as they delivered all their top efforts but we could not find alternative solutions to win. Sometimes, it is not easy to register the triumph but the main significance is to take the required technical gains and get the experience,” he said.
The 67-year-old affirmed that there are many crucial matches ahead for the team in the Asian qualifiers against Saudi Arabia and Australian teams. The head coach responded to the team’s performance during the Tunisia match. ”There are two reasons behind that. The first is that we have played three matches during seven days only and secondly, the opponent was Tunisia team which is a tough team and have top experienced players,” he ended.
The national team began the campaign at the 2021 Fifa Arab Cup with a 1-1 draw against Iraq in the group games before falling down 2-1 from the hosts Qatar. Then, 'Red Warriors' bounced back strongly as they defeated Bahrain 3-0 in the concluding group game. In the quarterfinal, Red Warriors were defeated by Tunisia 2-1 to as they exited from the championship.
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