Muscat: The Oman national football team has parted ways with its head coach Branko Ivankovic after a tenure of four years. The Oman Football Association (OFA) announced that it would not renew the contract with Croatian head coach Branko Ivankovic after Oman crashed out of the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023 in the group stage on Thursday night.
The OFA announced the decision on its social media.
“The Omani Football Association informs Croatian coach Branko Ivankovic of the OFA’s unwillingness to renew with him, at the end of the national team’s campaign in the 2023 Asian Cup. The OFA Board of Directors thanks the coach for the period he spent as coach of Oman’s football team, wishing him success in his next journey,” the statement on social media platform X said. There was huge pressure on Ivankovic and the national team players as Omani football fans and soccer pundits severely criticised the Red Warriors lacklustre performance at the Asian stage.
In recent times, the 69-year-old coach could not provide any breakthrough in the fortunes of the Red Warriors after they fell to a 1-0 defeat against Kyrgyzstan in a World Cup qualifier in Bishkek. The decision from the OFA has put the national team in need for a coach in the middle of their World Cup 2026 qualifier campaign. The qualifying matches are set to restart in March for Oman who play with Malaysia, Kyrgyzstan and Chinese Taipei in Group D.
HISTORIC WIN
The former Iran coach took charge of Oman in 2020 replacing Irwin Coeman, who is now the assistant coach of the Netherlands team. Under Ivankovic, Oman pulled off a historic 1-0 win over Japan in the final round of the 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifiers. Oman started nicely ahead of the Asian Cup 2023 with friendly wins over China (2-0) and the UAE (1-0). The Red Warriors had the best possible start in the Asian Cup as well when they struck first against Saudi Arabia in their opener. Saudi, however, came back late in the match to first equalise and then find the winner in the match.
In the second match against Thailand, Oman failed to find the target as they missed several chances. It was a must-win tie for Oman in the last Group F encounter against Kyrgyzstan, which they led most part by a goal but a 80th minute equaliser spoiled their hopes of qualification to the last 16. Oman reached the last 16 round in the last edition of the Asian Cup in the UAE in 2019. After his final match with Oman, Ivankovic expressed regret over Oman's missed opportunities against Kyrgyzstan.
“Unfortunately, we did not achieve the desired result, which was victory and qualification. We were the better team for most of the match, and had many opportunities, but we did not exploit them well,” the Croatian said. “Mistakes happen in football and despite predominantly being in control, we ended up conceding because of miscommunication in the final third. "Kyrgyz Republic, on the other hand, had a good goalkeeper in their midst and also took advantage of their one golden opportunity," said Branko.
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