OMAN GROUPED WITH PORTUGAL, SENEGAL AND URUGUAY
Oman national beach soccer team is clubbed with title holders Portugal, Uruguay and Senegal in Group D at Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup Russia 2021 to be held from August 19 to 29.
The draw, which took place at Fifa headquarters in Zurich city of Switzerland on Thursday, placed hosts Russia alongside with Asian representatives Japan, the United States and Paraguay. The third Asian nation and runners-up of the 2019 AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup, UAE, were grouped with Mozambique, Spain and Tahiti in Group B.
Group C comprised of fivetime champions Brazil, Belarus, El Salvador and Switzerland.
GOOD CHANCE
Oman’s chances are high to advance from this group as coach
Talib Hilal’s men had managed to win over Senegal and Uruguay teams in the previous encounters. The Sultanate beach soccer team will commence the campaign in the top beach soccer event with a crucial encounter against Portugal on August 20 while they will meet Uruguay in the next match on August 22. The concluding fixture in the group phase will be against Senegal on August 24.
The Sultanate’s beach soccer team had participated in Beach Soccer World Cup in Ravenna city in Italy in 2011 and in Portugal in 2015. The third participation of the team was at the Beach Soccer World Cup in Paraguay in December 2019. In the last edition, Oman national beach soccer team had registered a 6-5 win over Nigeria and suffered to two losses against Brazil and Portugal.
PREPARATORY CAMP
The national team is undergoing a domestic preparatory camp which will conclude on July 18 in Muscat. The local training camp of 14 days will be followed with an overseas camp in Ukraine which will take place on July 20 to 26 ahead of the Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup Russia 2021. The camp will feature participation in an international beach soccer tournament.
Oman had finished runnersup in the International beach soccer tournament in Dubai which concluded on June 26. Oman suffered defeats in the first two matches in the tournament against Senegal 3-2 and UAE 2-1. Then, the Sultanate bounced back and registered a 6-5 win over Senegal and a 7-6 triumph in penalties against the UAE.
The long serving beach soccer coach Talib Hilal announced the probables for the domestic camp including Kahlid al Oraimi, Yahya al Oraimi, Mundher al Oraimi, Mashal al Oraimi, Jalal al Sinani, Abdullah al Souti, Nouh al Zadjali, Amjad al Hamdani, Younis al Oauisi, Eid al Farsi, Hamood al Touqi, Said al Farsi and Salim al Oraimi.