Oman to take on Nepal in friendly on Sunday

MUSCAT: Oman national football team will take on Nepal team in a preparatory match on Sunday in Doha as part of the under way overseas camp. The second friendly fixture of the Red Warriors is scheduled on Thursday against Qatar military team. Both warm-up games are part of Oman’s preparation for the forthcoming matches in AFC Asian Qualifiers — Road to Qatar Group B.

Oman will face Australia on October 7 in Doha and meet Vietnam on October 12 at home.

The camp in Doha is moving as per the set plan and national team players are performing the training sessions under watchful eyes of the Croatian Branko Ivankovic. The upcoming warm-up games will assist the coaching staff to evaluate the player’s readiness and finalise the starting line-up for next matches.

It is expected that the professional players will join the team in Doha during Fifa matchdays. The overseas professional players include Oman goalkeeper Fayez al Rushaidi and Zahr al Aghbari (Iran’s Mes Rafsanjan Club), defender Mohammed al Musalami (Qatar’s Al Gharafa Club and Jameel al Yahmadi (Qatar’s Al Markkhiya Club).

Coach Ivankovic had said his dream is to lead Oman to the maiden World Cup finals. The 67-year-old expressed satisfaction on the team’s performance against Asian heavyweights Japan and Saudi Arabia. “We have perfect squad including six strikers and four of them played in the previous game against Saudi Arabia. All the forwards will be full ready for the following encounters,” he said.

Red Warrior commenced the campaign strongly in the Asian qualifiers with a historic 1-0 win over Japan in Osaka. The team suffered a 1-0 defeat against Saudi Arabia in Muscat.

Australia are topping the Group B with six points and Saudi Arabia are second with the same points but on goal-difference. Japan and Oman are third with same points while Vietnam and China are yet to open their accounts.

The Croatian coach picked 26 players for the forthcoming camp in Doha including: Abdulaziz al Maqbali, Khalid al Buraiki, Ahmed Faraj, Ali al Busaidy, Ahmed al Kaabi, Salah al Yahyai, Abdulaziz al Ghilani, Al Mundher al Alawi, Mohsin Jawher, Abdullah Fawaz, Ibrahim al Mukhaini, Mohammed al Ghafri, Arshad al Alawi, Yazyeed al Alawi, Khalid al Hajri, Essam al Subhi, Omar al Fazari, Amjad al Harthy, Juma al Habsi, Saud al Habsi, Ahmed al Khamisi, Ibrahim al Rajhi and Hussain al Shahri.