Oman U-17 football team will head off to Turkey on Sunday for an aboard preparatory camp that will run until August 20, ahead of the team’s participation in the 2022 Arab Cup U-17 Championship which will be held in Algeria from August 23 to September 8. Oman were placed in Group B of with Tunisia, Libya and Yemen. The camp acts also as a vital training stage for the team before hosting the AFC Asian qualifiers of group C of U-17 Asian Cup 2023 in Muscat in next October.
The newly appointed head coach of the team Khalid Ghanim, came as a replacement of Spanish coach Pablo Herrero Fernandez who moved to coaching staff of Oman U-19 football team, announced the squad of Turkey preparatory camp. A 24 players from different local clubs opted by the Egyptian coach to take part in the camp including Mohammed al Sameen, Harib al Ghassani, Al Harith al Mashakyei, Yasser al Balushi, Awad al Mashakyei, Anas al Ghadani, Tamim al Buraiki, Moamin al Souli, Al Qaiser al Dhbawouni, Jassim Fakhri, Fahad Rabee, Haitham Arafaa, Yousef al Shabibi, Sayaf Mustafa, Abdullah al Sharqi, Abdullah al Maqbali, Mohammed al Balushi, Abdulnasser al Hasani, Taha al Hinai, Abdullah al Rawahi, Adnan al Mushefri, Mohammed al Khasaibi, Al Haitham al Shukaili and Hamed al Shuraiqi.
Oman’s junior stars aim for a better show in the forthcoming Arab Cup U-17 Championship. Oman U-19 team ended recently their campaign at the Arab Cup U-20 Championship in Saudi Arabia from group round as they suffered to a 1-0 loss from Egypt and recorded a 2-0 win over Somalia. The only triumph against African national did not progress the team to the second round.
The national U-17 football team concluded their first official assignment in June at West Asian U-17 Championships in Jordan. The junior boys suffered three consecutive defeats in the event. The first 1-0 loss was against the hosts Jordan in the opener and then against Iraqi team 2-0 in the penultimate match. In the concluding fixture, Yemen trashed Oman team 4-0.
The main forthcoming official assignment for the U-17 football team will be at the AFC U-17 Asian Cup 2023 qualifiers. Muscat will host the qualifiers of group C which will take place from October 1 to 9 in Muscat. The group will feature Iraq, Qatar, Lebanon, Bahrain and the hosts Oman. The 10 group winners and five best second placed teams will join in the finals.
