Oman team to camp in Serbia
Coach Ivankovic selects 28 players as preparatory plans for final round of 2022 FIFA Asian qualifiers unveiled
Oman's World Cup final round campaign begins with an away game in Japan on September 2 and national team coach Branko Ivankovic of Croatia on Tuesday announced his 28-member squad for an overseas camp.
The Red Warriors will hold a month-long camp in Serbia, beginning on July 25, and will fly directly to Tokyo after the conclusion of the camp on August 23. The team is expected to arrive in Japan on August 25. Oman are seeking to play a couple of friendlies against local clubs before they meet the hosts on September 2.
During the camp in Serbia, the national team is expected to play four warm-up matches against the local teams.
Oman Football Association (OFA) and the national team received a boost on Tuesday after H H Sayyid Theyazin bin Haitham, Minister for Culture, Sports and Youth, directed the concerned authorities to provide full support to the team's preparations for the qualifiers.
A tough campaign involving long travel across continents and against stronger and higherranked rivals await Oman. Coach Branko Ivankovic has relied mainly on the squad that was in Qatar last month during the third round qualifiers.
Oman advanced as one of the best runners-up side from Group E with Qatar topping the group.
Following the Japan game, Oman have a home game against Saudi Arabia in Muscat on September 7. After the games against Japan and Saudi Arabia, Oman will travel to Australia for their match on October 7 before returning to play against Vietnam in Muscat on October 12.
China host Oman on November 11 before the Red Warriors take on Japan at home on November 16. The national team then visit their Gulf rivals
Saudi Arabia on January 27, 2022 before playing host to Australia on February 1. They make their last road trip to Vietnam for the match on March 24 before concluding their campaign with a home game against China on March 29.
The winner and runner-up in each group will seal an automatic spot at the World Cup finals. The third-placed teams in each group will meet in an Asian playoff to determine which team advances to an intercontinental playoff for one of the last places at the World Cup.
Omantel League from October 16
At a press meet on Tuesday, OFA general secretary and CEO
Fahd al Raisi, OFA executive director Sheikh Shabib al Hosni, OFA’s league expert Khalifa al Hasani and national team manager Maqbool al Balushi spoke about the national team's plans, domestic leagues and Olympic and beach soccer teams.
In his comments to Muscat Daily, Hosni said that the 2021-22 Omantel League, comprising 14 teams, and the OFA First Division League, featuring 21 teams, will begin on October 16 while the His Majesty's Cup will start on October 29. The OFA Cup will begin on November 19.
“Obviously these dates will be reconfirmed as the pandemic situation is expected to be much better by that time,” said Hosni.
Raisi said, “All the national team players will be exempted from their respective clubs from July-March 2022 in view of our final round World Cup qualifiers, 2021 FIFA Arab Cup and the 25th Gulf Cup tournaments.”
OFA also announced that the national Olympic squad, under Croatian coach Dario Basic, will camp in Turkey in August ahead of the AFC U23 Asian Cup Qualifiers. Oman are placed in Group E with UAE, India and Kyrgyz Republic in the U23 Asian Cup Uzbekistan 2022. The group qualifiers will be held in the UAE from October 23-31.
The winners of each of the 11 groups and four best secondplaced teams will advance to the finals beside Uzbekistan as hosts. The finals will be held from September 6 to 25, 2022.
Faiz al Rusheidi, Ahmed al Rawahi, Ibrahim al Mukhaini, Mohammed al Musalami, Abdulaziz al Ghailani, Amjad al Harthi, Zahir al Aghbari, Jameel al Yahmadi, Mohsin al Ghassani, Juma al Habsi, Ali al Busaidi, Abdullah Fawaz, Salah al Yahyaei, Abdulaziz al Miqbali, Omar al Fazari, Khalid al Breiki, Fahmi Durbein, Arshad al Alawi, Mohammed al Ghafri, Al Mundher al Alawi, Ahmed al Khamisi, Saud al Habsi, Ahmed al Kaabi, Yazeed al Mashani, Mohsin Jawhar, Khalid al Hajri, Issam al Subhi, Harib al Saadi.