MUSCAT, March 13 - With a strategic vision to seal direct qualification to Summer Olympics in Tokyo 2020, Oman national Olympic under-23 team is gearing up to take part in the Asian Under-23 Qualifying Championship in Qatar from March 22 to 26.
As part of their preparation, the team coached by Hamed al Azzani, arrived in Bahrain on Wednesday to have an external camp that include a friendly match against Bahrain on Friday at Khalifa Stadium in Manama City. The match will kick off at 8 pm (Oman Time). Technical coaching staff will focus a lot on this preparatory match as it is the last match prior taking part in the Asian Qualification.
Al Azzani and his assistants will finalise the starting list and will direct players to implement different technical tactics. Al Azzani, an experienced Olympic coach, had provided a comprehensive training programme for the selected squad.
It included series of domestic camps at different periods starting since October 2018. Also, Olympic team played many preparatory matches with local and international teams.
The Al Azzani’s boys had played recently two friendly matches in Muscat against Afghanistan. The first match ended with a goalless draw at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, while Oman scored a 3-0 win in the second friendly. During both matches, Al Azzani and assistant coaches Mohsin Darwish and Bader al Maimani gave an equal chances for all the players.
Oman will commence their campaign in Doha at the Asian qualification by taking on Nepal in the opening match on March 22. Then, they will face Afghanistan on March 24 while the third match will be against hosts Qatar on March 26.
Oman national U-23 Olympic team’s list include Saud al Habsi, Youssef al Shihadi, Qadhafi al Mahrouqi, Ammar al Hedi, Zaher al Aghbari, Ibrahim al Mukhini, Thawini al Mukhaini, Ammar al Sehdi, Motassem al Muhajri, Ali al Hinai, Youssef al Malki, Sultan Bashir, Abdulrahman al Mashifari, Bandar Meshaal, Marwan Talal, Ahmed al Matrooshi, Essam al Subhi, Asad al Awadi, Salah al Yahyaei, Mohsin al Ghassani, Murshid al Alawi, Moutaism Mubarek, Mohammed al Ghafri and Yousef al Ghilani.
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