Muscat: The Oman national under-19 football team will take part in the 2022 Arab Cup U-20 Championship which will be held in Saudi Arabia from July 20 to August 5.
Younis al Shibli, team manager, told Oman Daily Observer that the team received an official invitation from the Arab Football Federation and the organising committee. “Taking part in this Arabian football tourney is vital ahead of the AFC U20 Asian Cup qualifiers tournament in September. This event will assist the team and players to have more official fixtures and matches ahead of the top Asian assignment,” he added.
As many as 16 teams are expected to be part of this championship. The teams will be distributed into four groups and each group will feature of four teams. The top two teams will advance to quarterfinals.
“We are planning to have some warm-up sessions during the next period in Muscat and Salalah. Due to final examinations for some players at school and university levels, we are facing little difficulty in conducting these camps. The forthcoming camp will be held during July 11 until the team’s departure to Saudi Arabia to attend in the 2022 Arab Cup U-20 championship,” the team manger said.
On a query about arranging friendly games, Younis al Shibli responded: "There is a plan for an abroad camp in Europe and the national team committee is seeking strong preparatory games to be included in these warm-up gatherings. Besides that, we are following up with the neighbouring associations for friendly matches in the internal camps,” he concluded.
Muscat will host the AFC U20 Asian Cup Qualifiers from September 10 to 18. The draw will be held on Tuesday at the AFC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.
Oman under-19 football team concluded an internal preparatory camp before two weeks. The seven-day warm-up gathering featured two friendly games against Royal Navy of Oman (RNO) team and Transportation team from the Sultan’s Armed Forces (SAF).
In both preparatory matches, Oman boys suffered losses as they lost to RNO 2-1 and 3-1 against SAF. The camp was under supervision of David Gordo, head coach of Oman under-19 team. The third appearance of the team featured attendance of four Omani players who are playing in Spanish leagues including Nasser al Saqri and Khalid al Sulaimi (Pinatar Club de Futbol), Salim al Abdali (Celta de Vigo FC) and Tariq al Saadi (Queen’s Park FC).
OMAN U-19 SQUAD
Loai al Rawahi, Marwan al Qutaiti, Said al Adawi, Ahmed al Harmali, Nawaf al Futaisi, Al Muntasar al Mawali, Salim al Shamakhi, Mulham al Hadhrami,
Osama al Mahrouqi, Osama al Rawahi, Salim al Abdali, Mohammed al Oraibi, Sultan al Marzooqi, Ahmed al Shanfari, Said al Ghanbousi, Abdul Aleem al Rawahi, Tariq al Saadi, Saif al Makhmari, Ahed al Mashakhyi, Mazin al Harrasi, Al Muhannad al Habsi, Nasser al Saqri, Khalid al Sulaimi, Abdul Majeed al Balushi, Ali al Balushi and Mohammed al Balushi.
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