Muscat: Oman Olympic football team began their campaign on a positive note as they trounced Lebanon 4-2 at the West Asian U-23 Championship which is underway in the Jeddah city in Saudi Arabia late on Sunday.
In another Group A match, Lebanon and Qatar played a goalless draw in the opening round on Thursday.
Oman’s victory meant that the team topped Group A with three points while Qatar and Lebanon are placed in the second and third places respectively.
Oman will meet Qatar on Wednesday in a tight clash to decide the toppers of the group.
Despite the results of the forthcoming match, Oman boys confirmed their spot for the semifinals as the top two teams in each group will advance to the semifinals. Then, the winners in semifinals will compete for the title while the losers will play the third and fourth play-off fixture.
Against Lebanon, Al Faraj al Kiyoumi opened the scoring account for Oman in the tenth minute while Saleem Salim doubled the result from a penalty. Nasser al Rawahi scored a brace in the 41st and 62nd minutes to make Oman's scoresheet as four goals. The goals for Lebanon came from Mohammed Sadiq in the 75th minute and two minutes later Said Saad scored the second goal to make it 4-2.
National head coach Akram Habreesh affirmed that Oman are taking part in this prestigious Asian event with a target of clinching the title. Oman U-23 players team managed to show strong performance in the opener and the team will chase for the same in Wednesday’s fixture against rivals Qatar, he added.
In Group B, Syria registered a crucial 2-1 win over hosts Saudi Arabia. Syria suffered a 2-1 loss against Bahrain in their first match. Saudi Arabia will meet Bahrain on Wednesday in a strong game.
The semifinal fixtures are scheduled to take place on Saturday while the concluding match and third and fourth play-off match will be held on November 15.
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