Talib picks 14 players for WAFF beach soccer

A total of 14 probables have been called up by Talib Hilal, head coach of Oman beach soccer team, to take part in the West Asian Federation (WAFF) Championship which will begin in Saudi Arabia on Monday until May 21.

The squad featured experienced and new young faces including Mundher al Oraimi, Mashal al Oraimi, Salim al Oraimi, Khalid al Oraimi, Amjad al Hamdani, Khalid al Mukhaini, Nouh al Zadjali, Ahmed al Owaisi, Younis al Owaisi, Sami al Balushi, Yahya al Buraiki, Sameer Jameel, Nouh al Battashi and Abdullah al Souti. The Sultanate of Oman’s delegation will travel to Jezan city on Saturday.

Oman are grouped with the UAE, Kuwait and Lebanon in Group A, while hosts Saudi Arabia are leading Group B besides Bahrain and Palestine.

Oman beach soccer team will begin their campaign at the WAFF championship with a strong match against UAE on Monday. The match will kick off at 18:00 (Oman time) while they will take on Kuwait in the following fixture on Tuesday. The match will start at 18:00 (Oman time).

The third and concluding group match of the national beach soccer team will be against Lebanon and the match will begin at 19:30 (Oman time). The top two teams from each group will advance to the semifinals while rest of the teams will play to define the fifth to seventh places.

Coach Talib Hilal’s men are in good shape to put up a top performance at the WAFF Championship. Oman beach soccer team met Bahrain team in three preparatory matches during the domestic warm-up camp which was held during the holy month of Ramadhan.

In the first warm-up game, Oman blanked Bahrain 4-0. Oman’s goals were netted by Nouh al Battashi, Mashal al Oraimi, Salim al Oraimi and Nouh al Zadjali. In the following preparatory match, Oman team managed to duplicate their triumph but with a 7-3 win. Abdullah al Souti was the super star as he scored four of Oman’s goals, while Sami al Balushi netted once and Nouh al Zadjali hit a brace.

Oman team confirmed their domination on Bahraini team as they ended the third friendly game with a 5-1 win. In this game, Abdullah al Souti, Nouh al Battashi (two goals), Yahya al Buraiki and Younis al Owaisi were on target for the hosts.

In the first edition of the West Asian Federation Championship, which was orgainsed in 2013, Oman had finished as runners-up while hosts Iran had clinched the title. Seven teams took part in the event during that time including Qatar, Palestine, Bahrain, Iraq and Lebanon, Iran and Oman.