Coach Branko assesses Oman players in Dubai overseas camp

Muscat, March 13 - The Sultanate football team players are currently engaged in an overseas camp in Dubai under the watchful eyes of head coach Branko Ivankovic at the training complex which belongs to UAE Football Association. The national football team delegation arrived to Dubai on Thursday evening and all players have implemented the mandatory PCR test after arrival in Dubai Airport and two players have tested positive. According to the medical protocol measures, the positive cases were separated in quarantine while all the other players and coaching staff are in a fit health condition. Earlier, Oman Football Association announced two players from the team including Dhofar’s Ali Salim al Nahar and Khalid al Hajri will not join the Dubai camp as they have tested positive too. The training set plan of the team will continue with a series of morning and evening sessions. The team had a morning training session on Saturday under the supervision of the fitness coach and featured stretching and fitness exercises. The day was completed with another evening training session under the directions of the Croatian coach Branko Ivankovic. The session was completed with some tactical training as the players were distributed into two groups. Each group trained on receiving and passing balls techniques. Also, the players exercised on some attacking styles and creating the scoring attempts. Talented striker Salah al Yahyaei trained individually under supervision of fitness coach. The experienced head coach will target from Dubai camp to raise the readiness of the players prior the forthcoming crucial assignment at to the joint 2022 Fifa World Cup and 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers and for the GCC Cup championship. The preparatory external camp will feature two friendly matches as the first scheduled match is against Jordan on March 20 in Dubai while the next preparatory fixture is against India on March 25. The coaching staff headed by Branko will focus on working hard in sustaining the good technical and physique levels. The warm-up programme will continue with more focus on the fitness and tactical sides until reaching high levels of fitness and suitable shape for all the players. The preparatory matches against Jordan and India will identify the initial faces and style of playing prior to the qualifiers and GCC Cup. OMAN PROBABLES Goalkeepers: Fayez al Rushaidi, Ahmed al Rawahi, Ibrahim al Mukhaini; Defenders: Mohammed al Musallami, Ahmad al Khamisi, Ali al Nahar, Fahmi Durbin, Juma al Habsi, Abdulaziz al Ghilani, Ali al Busaidy, Ahmad al Kaabi and Abbas al Hashimi; Midfielders: Abdullah Fawaz, Harib al Saadi, Yazid al Mashani, Amjad al Harthi, Zahir al Aghbari, Salah al Yahyaei, ​​Omar al Fazari, Mohsin Jawhar and Yaseen al Shiyadi; Forwards: Abdulaziz al Maqbali, Mohammad al Ghafri, Khalid al Hajri, Mohsin al Ghassani, Omar al Malki and Essam al Subhi.   Adil Al Balushi