MUSCAT: Oman national football team players are gearing up in the underway high profile camp in Minnesota, USA ahead of the scheduled international friendly match against hosts USA on Wednesday. The current external camp is followed after a successful one week warm-up gathering in Muscat last week which featured a preparatory encounter against Palestine that ended on triumphant note for the Red Warriors. The goals of Oman team were scored by Omar al Malki and Essam al Subhi. The ongoing abroad camp programme in Minnesota is part of the team’s crucial preparation for the preliminary Joint Qualification for the Fifa World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2027 besides the 2024 AFC Asian Cup which kicks off on January 12, 2024 in Qatar.
Upon arrival of the Red Warriors to Minnesota city earlier on Sunday, they reported to their daily training sessions under direct technical supervision from head coach Branko Ivankovic and his supporting staff. The initial sessions focused on releasing the exhaustion of the team members after the long journey which lasted for more than 25 hours. Moreover, the coaching team worked hard to improve the fitness and physique sides of the players beside implementing some tactical sessions. The coaching staff is working hard to shape the readiness of all the players as the team is currently having some injured players including Salah al Yahyaei and Juma al Habsi who trained separately.
The weather in Minnesota is varying between 13 to 18 C and it is acting as a suitable station for the team members to train under this climate affairs ahead of the key assignments. Oman team will be eyeing for capitalising their technical outcomes in this ongoing top class camp and show a strong performance in their second international warm-up match appearance against the USA team, ranked 11th in the world.
The top friendly match against the USA team will be vital for the coaching staff to assess the fitness and physical conditions besides technical prowess of the players. The 69-year-old coach will look to gain the desired results from this friendly fixture. Moreover, the players will get into the mood of tough games and could execute several tactics and strategies employed in the recent training sessions at today’s preparatory game.
The Red Warriors’ preparatory programme will stop temporarily during October as the players will join their respective clubs. The national team will resume their training activities in November as their campaign in the joint qualifiers will begin in the same month.
Oman, ranked 72nd in the world, will face Kyrgyz Republic, Malaysia, Chinese Taipei/Timor Leste in Group D of the joint qualifiers. Oman will launch their challenge at the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023 finals in January 2024 in Group F which comprised Asian favourites Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Kyrgyzstan.
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