MUSCAT, DEC 30
The Oman national football team ended the year of 2023 on a winning note by defeating China 2-0, in an international friendly match at Baniyas Stadium in Abu Dhabi, UAE, on Friday night. Oman’s both goals were scored in the second half by Arshad al Alawi (49th minute) and Mohsin al Ghassani (65th minute) respectively. Arshad’s goal found the target in style after a long ball from outside the box while Al Ghassani doubled the lead as he received a perfect pass to continue the ball to the net to end the result at 2-0.
The head coach of Oman team Branko Ivankovic implemented different tactics during the warm-up game and did many substitutions during the match ahead of the major assignment in AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023, which will kick off on January 12 in Doha. Six substitutions were made by coach Ivankovic. Abdulrahman al Mushefri entered as a replacement for Omar al Malki while Zahir al Aghbari entered in Abdullah Fawaz’s position. Ali al Busaidi, Abdulaziz al Ghilani, Mohsin al Ghassani and Tamim al Balushi replaced Ahmed al Kaabi, Salah al Yahyaei, Essam al Subhi and Harib al Saadi respectively.
The coach Ivankovic began the match with a starting line-up featured from Ibrahim al Mukhaini who was guarding the goal. The four-man defence comprised from Khalid al Buraiki, Ahmed al Kaabi, Ahmed al Khamisi and Arshad al Alawi in the right side. The midfielders were Harib al Saadi, Abdullah Fawaz, Jameel al Yahmadi and Salah al Yahyaei. The forwards were Essam al Subhi and Omar al Malki.
Oman players were dominating all over the match as there were many scoring attempts created and only two successful goals netted in the match. The Red Warriors will have another preparatory game in its underway camp in Abu Dhabi and the game will be against UAE on Saturday. It will be the concluding match for the team ahead of their opening match in Group F of the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023 as they will take on Saudi Arabia. Then, they will meet a confident Southeast Asian team Thailand on January 21 before they will end their group matches against Kyrgyzstan on January 25.
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