MUSCAT: The national senior football team players will undergo their fourth training session on Monday as part of the underway domestic training camp in Muscat.
Red Warriors are in very intensive training schedule including daily fitness and physical training during morning session at the fitness hall in Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex while reporting to the technical and tactical training in the evening sessions at the greenfield of the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex.
Oman team players, coached by Croatian Branko Ivankovic, will test their initial readiness ahead of travelling to USA camp with a friendly match against Palestine scheduled on Wednesday at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex.
Three players joined the training camp recently namely: Fayez al Rushaidi, Harib al Saadi and Ahmed al Khamisi to complete the full squad while Motaz Saleh trained individually whereas Salah al Yahyaei is awaiting for the final medical team confirmation on his recent injury.
High profile camp in USA
The ongoing internal warm-up gathering will be followed by a high profile abroad camp in USA as the national team delegation will travel to USA on Friday. The external camp in USA will feature a tight friendly match against the USA team, ranked 11th in the world, on September 12 in Minnesota, USA.
Both camps will play vital role for the team’s preparation for the preliminary Joint Qualification Round 2 for the Fifa World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2027 besides the 2024 AFC Asian Cup in Qatar assignment.
The head coach of Oman team affirmed last week securing direct slot to the 2026 Fifa World Cup is the dream of the team. Red Warriors’ campaign in the joint qualifiers will begin in November. Oman, ranked 72nd in the world, will face Kyrgyz Republic, Malaysia, Chinese Taipei/Timor Leste in Group D of the joint qualifiers. The Red Warriors will launch their challenge at the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023 finals in January 2024 at Group F which comprised Asian favourites Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Kyrgyzstan.
After completion of September camps, the preparation of the national team will resume in November as October month will be dedicated for the domestic competitions and the players will be busy with their respective clubs. This was confirmed by coach Branko in the last press meet.
OMAN PROBABLES: Ahmed al Rawahi, Ibrahim al Mukhaini, Fayez al Rushaidi, Mahmood al Mushaifri, Ahmed al Kaabi, Motaz Saleh, Khalid al Buraiki, Ahmed al Khamisi, Ahmed al Matroushi, Fahmi Said, Juma al Habsi, Musab al Maamari, Tamim al Balushi, Harib al Saadi, Salah al Yahyaei, Zaher al Aghbari, Abdulrahman al Mushaifri, Ali al Hinai, Abdullah Fawaz, Jameel al Yahmadi, Mohsin al Ghassani, Ahmed al Adawi, Omar al Malki and Isam al Subhi.
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