Oman U20 coach names squad for West Asian tourney

Muscat: Oman Under 20 football team head coach Ahmed al Alawi has announced the probables for the domestic camp after Eid break as part of the preparatory plan for the forthcoming events including West Asian Championship and AFC U20 Asian Cup 2025 Qualifiers. The nearest assignment will be taking part at the West Asian Championship which will be held at Al Taif city, Saudi Arabia, from June 25 to July 5.

Attending the West Asian tournament will act as a good warm-up for the team ahead of the challenging AFC U20 Asian Cup 2025 Qualifiers in September. According to the draw on Thursday, Oman U20 team will face Tajikistan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and North Korea teams in the qualifiers in Group E. Tajikistan will host the qualifiers during September 21 to 29. The 10 group winners and five best second-placed teams will advance to the finals as China will host the tournament during February 6-23, 2025.

The latest presence of the Oman team was in Iraq as they had a short abroad camp earlier this month. The camp in Al Basra city featured two friendly games against Iraq. In the first match, Iraq beat Oman 3-1 with the only goal for Oman scored by Ghassan al Masroori. In the following match, junior Red Warriors managed to bounce back and register a 1-0 win over Iraq with Ghassan al Masroori again on target.

Also, the team had concluded an external camp in Manama city in Bahrain in May. During the camp, the national team had played two friendly games against Bahrain. Bahrain won the first match 2-0 while the following game finished in a goalless draw. Ahead of Bahrain camp, the Oman team went to Kuwait in March for another camp. During the camp in Kuwait, the Oman junior team had played two games against the hosts. Oman won the first match 3-1 and the second match 1-0. The junior Red Warriors goals were netted in the opening match by Masoud al Bahri, Fahad al Mukhaini and Al Hussain al Qasmi, while Abdullah Faris scored for Kuwait. Al Qasmi scored the only goal in the second match.

Oman squad: Majid al Farsi, Ghassan al Masroori, Shihab al Mukhaini, Ahmed al Shanfari, Mohammed al Sameen, Fahad Abdullah, Abdulaziz al Shaqsi, Adnan al Mushefri, Said al Ghanbousi, Jawad al Azi, Al Hussain al Qasmi, Al Harith al Mashaikhi, Mohammed al Maqbali, Ali al Alawi, Momen al Solui, Oadi al Manwari, Muhannad al Saadi, Yousef al Shabibi, Fahad al Mukhaini, Rabee al Sunaidi, Abdullah al Jabri, Abdullah al Maamari and Ziyad al Jaalani.