Muscat, Nov 8 - Players from Dhofar and Al Nahda joined the preparatory camp of the national football team camp in Muscat on Saturday after completion of the semifinal matches at the HM Cup. It is the first appearance for the both above mentioned teams players under supervision of head coach Branko Ivankovic. With the joining of Salalah giants and Al Nahda players, the team is undergoing training sessions in full strength under watchful eyes and directions of Croatian coach Ivankovic.
Three friendly local matches are set up for the ‘Red Warriors’ in the ongoing warm-up camp. The first preparatory game will take place on Wednesday against Muscat club. The rest two matches will be against the Olympic team on November 13 and 18. All the matches will be played at Seeb Stadium with kick off at 6:30 pm without attendance of the audience and media.
Twelve training sessions are completed by the players with 10 more remaining. The coaching staff have focused on different tactical scenarios during the previous sessions.
The Croatian coach divided the players into three groups and guided them on quick passing and moving from defence to forward lines. Also, the team trained on clinching and conversion of the scoring chances into goals at narrow areas.
The goalkeeping coach had seperate training sessions for the goalkeepers.
The existing camp for the national team is a proper platform for the local clubs players as they are gearing up for the forthcoming season 2020-21 which will begin on December 3.
Ivankovic has called up 28 players for the domestic camp including Fayez al Rushaidi, Mohammed al Musalami, Harib al Saadi, Abdullah Fawaz, Salah al Yahyaei, Ahmed al Khamisi, Yazeed al Mashani, Moutaz Saleh, Ahmed Faraj, Eid al Farsi, Amjad al Harthi, Zahir al Aghbri, Khalid al Buraiki, Abdulaziz al Ghailani, Omar al Fazari, Essam al Subhi, Ahmed al Kaabi, Ali al Rushaidi, Fahmi Said, Ibrahim Saleh, Mohammed al Dheeb, Arshed al Alawi, Abbas al Hashami, Mohsin Jawher, Khalid al Hajri, Omran al Hedi, Abdulaziz al Maqbali and Ali al Busaidy.
The announced team list included many new faces including Muscat’s star Abbas al Hashami, Dhofar’s Yazeed al Mashani and Ahmed al Khamisi. The national players who are playing abroad did not take part at the ongoing camp due to the restriction after travel and home quarantine procedures.
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