Oman move up to fourth in WC qualifiers
Published: 05:10 PM,Oct 11,2024 | EDITED : 09:10 PM,Oct 11,2024
Muscat: In the first match of the national coach Rasheed Jaber, Oman national football team revived its hopes of competing for one of the qualification cards for the World Cup 2026 after achieving a great victory with four clean goals over Kuwait.
Oman midfielder Abdulrahman al Mushaifri, the player of the match, scored first goal in 16th minute and third goal in the 58th minute, while second goal was by Mohsin al Ghassani in the 30th minute, and fourth goal was scored by Abdullah Fawaz in the 79th minute.
The Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Bausher, on Thursday evening, hosted the third round of the decisive qualifier for the World Cup, a victory that came as a correction of the course for Team Oman in the presence of around 26,000 Omani fans.
Coach Rasheed Jaber promised before the match that the Oman team will be in different shape, after two consecutive defeats from Iraq 1-0 and then against South Korea 3-1, to earn the first three points in qualifying.
“We needed this win after the two losses. The match was not easy but the players were focused with a desire to win. We showed the true level of the Oman team. I expected to win but not by this margin,' Coach Rasheed Jaber said.
'We have started the first step and the journey is long. We have worked on enhancing the players’ mental presence and self-confidence during the past days and we will deal with each match with greater confidence and more effort,' he added.
The match was managed by Australian referee Alireza Faghani, assisted by Australians Anton Shchetinin and Ashley Beecham, and fourth official Adam Kersey, while in the VAR room was Australian referee Katherine Margaret Jaswicz, assisted by Kearney Robinson. The match was supervised by Maldivian Ahmed Shaheer, and the Qatari referee Abdulrahman Mohammed supervised the referees.
South Korea and Iraq topped Group B with seven points each, after South Korea beat Jordan 3-1 and Iraq edged Palestine 1-0 in Thursday night's other matches. Jordan stayed in third position with four points, while Oman moved to fourth with three points. Kuwait are fifth with two points ahead of bottom-placed Palestine with a point.
The first two teams from each group will qualify directly for the 2026 World Cup, while the third and fourth will move on to the fourth round to compete for two tickets to the World Cup and a ticket to the global play-off.
In the fourth round matches, on October 15, Oman will seek a second win when they play away in Jordan, the top two teams, South Korea and Iraq, will meet each other in South Korea, and Palestine will meet Kuwait in Qatar.
Oman midfielder Abdulrahman al Mushaifri, the player of the match, scored first goal in 16th minute and third goal in the 58th minute, while second goal was by Mohsin al Ghassani in the 30th minute, and fourth goal was scored by Abdullah Fawaz in the 79th minute.
The Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Bausher, on Thursday evening, hosted the third round of the decisive qualifier for the World Cup, a victory that came as a correction of the course for Team Oman in the presence of around 26,000 Omani fans.
Coach Rasheed Jaber promised before the match that the Oman team will be in different shape, after two consecutive defeats from Iraq 1-0 and then against South Korea 3-1, to earn the first three points in qualifying.
“We needed this win after the two losses. The match was not easy but the players were focused with a desire to win. We showed the true level of the Oman team. I expected to win but not by this margin,' Coach Rasheed Jaber said.
'We have started the first step and the journey is long. We have worked on enhancing the players’ mental presence and self-confidence during the past days and we will deal with each match with greater confidence and more effort,' he added.
The match was managed by Australian referee Alireza Faghani, assisted by Australians Anton Shchetinin and Ashley Beecham, and fourth official Adam Kersey, while in the VAR room was Australian referee Katherine Margaret Jaswicz, assisted by Kearney Robinson. The match was supervised by Maldivian Ahmed Shaheer, and the Qatari referee Abdulrahman Mohammed supervised the referees.
South Korea and Iraq topped Group B with seven points each, after South Korea beat Jordan 3-1 and Iraq edged Palestine 1-0 in Thursday night's other matches. Jordan stayed in third position with four points, while Oman moved to fourth with three points. Kuwait are fifth with two points ahead of bottom-placed Palestine with a point.
The first two teams from each group will qualify directly for the 2026 World Cup, while the third and fourth will move on to the fourth round to compete for two tickets to the World Cup and a ticket to the global play-off.
In the fourth round matches, on October 15, Oman will seek a second win when they play away in Jordan, the top two teams, South Korea and Iraq, will meet each other in South Korea, and Palestine will meet Kuwait in Qatar.