MUSCAT, June 20
Oman placed in the third position at the Central Asian Football Association (CAFA) Nations Cup 2023, after defeated Kyrgyzstan 1-0, on Tuesday at Pakhtakor Central Stadium in the third and fourth playoff.
The match goal was scored by Arshad al Alawi in the 71th minute of the match. With the triumph, Oman team players bagged the bronze medals in the tournament which ended in Uzbekistan on Tuesday after ten days of thrilling competitions. The goal registered by Al Alawi as he received a golden pass inside the box from Salah al Yahyaei and then he converted the ball into the net before the match end by 19 minutes.
The head coach of the Oman national team, Branko Ivankovic, began the third and fourth playoff fixture against Kyrgyzstan with a starting line-up that featured slight changes including Ibrahim al Mukhaini as goalkeeper. Mahmood al Mushaifri, Khalid al Buraiki, Ahmed al Khamisi and Ahmed al Kaabi were in the back side as defenders. The experienced Harib al Saadi was monitoring the middle line besides Abdullah Fawaz, Arshad al Alawi and Salah al Yahyaee. Al Mohsin al Ghassani and Abdul Rahman al Mushferi were the two attackers in the front.
Red Warriors finished the group stage as runners up with four points from one victory against Turkmenistan 2-0, a 1-1 draw with Tajikistan and suffered to a 3-0 loss against the hosts Uzbekistan in the opener. The CAFA Nations Cup 2023 acted as a golden opportunity for preparing to the forthcoming crucial assignments including in AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023 finals and the qualifiers for Asian teams on road to the Fifa World Cup 2026 as well as the AFC Asian Cup 2027.
The conclusion of the CAFA Nations Cup, Oman team will be in a break during the summer. The players will report back to their training in August as the new season of 2023/2024 will begin before August end. The next abroad camp of the Red Warriors will begin in September as Oman will meet with USA team on September 12.
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