Muscat, June 10
Oman futsal team will take on Saudi Arabia team on Saturday in the semifinals of fourth edition of West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) Men’s futsal championship which is under way in Kuwait.
The match will kick off at 8:30 pm (Oman time) at Al Nasr club hall in Kuwait. Oman team, coached by Younis al Fahdi, sealed its spot in the semis of WAFF Men futsal championship after ending their third match in group B in a 3-3 draw against Lebanon late on Thursday. In the other match of semifinal, the hosts Kuwait will meet Lebanon and the match will start at 5:00 pm (Oman time) in the same venue.
Oman lead group B by five points as they commenced their campaign with a 4-2 win over UAE in the opener. Then, the futsal team was held to a 2-2 draw against Bahrain before they levelled with a 3-3 draw with Lebanon in the conclusion group matches. Lebanon ended their campaign as runner up with the same amount of points but with goal difference than Bahrain which finished in third place. The UAE team was positioned in the fourth place with nil point.
Back to Oman and Lebanon match, Zamil al Balushi opened the scoring in the match for Oman team while Ali Hashim equalised for the opponent. Mohannad al Shibli restored the Oman’s side lead with his first goal of the evening while Hassan Zaiton brought back the result to 2-2 before the half-time whistle.
In the following half, the Lebanese team entered the match with better focus and pressed hard towards Oman’s goalkeeper. After several scoring attempts, Mohammed Hamood managed to put his team Lebanon ahead this time as he scored the third goal.
Later, Coach Younis al Fahdi’s men worked hard to return into the match and Moatasim al Shamsi managed to score the equaliser in the dying minutes to deliver the golden point to Oman team.
The under way WAFF Men’s futsal championship act as a vital preparatory event before Oman futsal team make their debut at the AFC Futsal Asian Cup which will take place in Kuwait in September. The Sultanate of Oman team will face a tough challenge of battling with the hosts Kuwait, 16-time Asian champions Thailand and Iraq in Group A.
