MUSCAT: Oman head coach Pim Verbeek said the door is open to junior players for a place in the national squad.
“The door is still open to call and try new players and I will travel to China by myself to watch the U-23 national team in order to hunt new talents,” the Dutchman told Oman Daily Observer after Oman national team thrashed Maldives 5-0 in the Asian Cup qualifier on Tuesday at the Sultan Qaboos Sport Complex.
“I am pleased with the performance of the team in general compared with what we did in Afghanistan friendly.”
“This is how you can benefit from the friendly games to improve the team for the official games.”
“I am not yet settled with the final squad and the upcoming U-23 Asian Cup to be held in China in January 2018 will be a very important opportunity for us to spot the new talents. I will go to watch the competition if I do not have any commitments with the senior team,’’ Verbeek said.
Oman were less impressive in the first half of the game, scoring only one goal by Maldives’ defender (own goal), before they improved their style of play to score four goals in the second half.
In the post-match press conference, Verbeek said: “We were supposed to score about three goals in the first half, but we did only once. I spoke to my men in the half-time that we need only to concentrate on converting chances to goals and we made it in the second half.’’
Verbeek continued playing with the same formation (4-4-2) in the second half but made three changes, with Salah al Yahyae, Said al Ruzaiqi and Sami al Hasni replacing Ali al Busidy, Khalid al Hajri and Mohsen al Gassani. The changes enhanced the quality of the attacking side which let them to score four goals.
In the match, Maldives defenders scored two own goals, while Salah al Yahyae made it three by scoring a spectacular goal. Jamil al Yahmedi scored the fourth before the substitute Sami al Hasini marked his name with the fifth goal.
The victory put the Red Warriors in second place of Group D with 6 points, behind the leaders Palestine who have now 9 points after beating Bhutan 2-0 away.
Jaber al Ajmi
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