Oman crash out of Arab Cup U-17 championship

Muscat; Oman crashed out of the group stage of the Arab Cup U-17 football championship after losing to Libya 2-1 in Algeria on Friday. Oman will meet Tunisia on Monday in the concluding round.

A disappointing show from Oman boys against Libya dashed hopes of progressing into quarterfinals. The team was stunned by Yemen 3-0 in the opener. The Arab Cup Championship will run until September 8.

This is the second official presence of the team in official championships in two months after the West Asian U-17 Championships in Jordan in June. The team, which was under Spanish coach Pablo Herrero Fernandez during the West Asian event, is now coached by Egyptian Khalid Ghanim. It had faced three consecutive defeats in the West Asian event. The first defeat was against the hosts Jordan 1-0 in the opener and then against the Iraqi team 2-0 in the penultimate match. In the concluding fixture, Yemen trashed Oman team 4-0.

Despite an intensive warm-up camp in Turkey for two weeks ahead of the Arab Cup, the team did not present the desired performance in the group matches. The camp in Turkey during the month of August had featured three strong friendly games. The national team had managed to register a 5-0 win over Qatar’s Al Ahli club and then they had trashed Turkish’ Sakaryaspor club 5-2 before a goalless draw against Fenerbahçe S.K. in their third encounter.

The forthcoming official assignment for the U-17 football team will be at the AFC U-17 Asian Cup 2023 qualifiers. Oman will host the qualifiers of group C which will take place from October 1 to 9. The group will feature Iraq, Qatar, Lebanon, Bahrain and Oman. The 10 group winners and five best second placed teams will join the hosts Bahrain in the finals. The qualifiers will act as a vital event for the team as they will eye for clinching the direct spot to the Asian finals in Bahrain next year.