Muscat: The Oman national football team blanked Racing Murcia City FC 5-0 in the first of the friendly matches in Asturias, Spain, on Thursday.
Essam al Subhi was in command soon after the kick-off as he scored the opening goal in the 19th minute. Oman players were in top form in the second half as they netted four goals starting from Jameel al Yahmadi who scored the second goal in the 54th minute. The margin increased to 4-0 when Mohammed al Ghafri managed to score two goals in the 56th and 69th minutes. Nasser al Rawahi sealed the victory as he netted the fifth and concluding goal in the 90th minute.
The head coach of Oman national team, Jaroslav Silhavy, began the match with the starting lineup that included Ahmed al Rawahi as a goalie. Amjad al Harthi returned to the team’s squad as he took his place in the defending line beside Ahmed al Khamisi, Mohammed al Musallami and Ali al Busaidi. The mid-field was managed by Harib al Saadi and assisted by his teammates including Musab al Mamari, Jameel al Yahmadi, Omar al Malki and Salah al Yahyaei. Essam al Subhi was in the front as an attacker.
This warm up match will be followed by two more games as the Red Warriors will meet Real Oviedo FC on Sunday. Then, the last warm-up encounter will be against CD Leganés FC on Wednesday.
Silhavy and his assistant staff retained the squad with no major changes. The coaching staff aim to have more stability within the same squad and raise the harmony among them. Moreover, the changes may occur in the forthcoming warm up games as the current camp featured some new youth faces.
The ongoing camp in Spain is scheduled for the team’s preparations for the upcoming assignment like the Asian Qualifiers — Road to 26 starting in September and the Arabian Gulf Cup in Kuwait in December.
Oman will look for a bright start in their third appearance in the third round of the AFC Asian Qualifiers - Road to 26 for the second successive edition as the qualifiers will begin in September. Red Warriors are very optimistic this time as the draw brought them in Group B, which comprised South Korea, Iraq, Jordan, Palestine and Kuwait. The team will commence their campaign in the qualifiers against Iraq in Basra city on September 5. The second match is against South Korea in Muscat on September 10 and it will be a crunch game. Later, Red Warriors will face Kuwait on October 10 in Muscat followed by a match with Jordan on October 15 in Amman. Then, the first leg matches will be concluded with a match against Palestine on November 14.
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