Muscat: Oman national football team faces a must-win situation against Kuwait in the third stage of the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup finals, that scheduled to be held in the United States of America, Canada and Mexico.
The Red Warriors are looking forward to writing a new phase filled with positive results in an effort to correct the path and regain recovery and avoid repeating the shocking scenario.
The match will kick off at 8 pm (Oman Time) on Thursday, evening at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex.
Oman are at the bottom of Group B with no points after losing the opening rounds against Iraq team in Iraq, before falling in the second test with the South Koreans in Muscat.
Oman will enter the match with a full squad after completing their ranks with the addition of Mohsin al Ghassani, a professional player at Bangkok United Club. Salah al Yahyaei of Al Khalidiya club is also in the squad. However, the team will miss Harib al Saadi due to the accumulation of yellow cards.
Rasheed bin Jaber al Yafei, Oman national team head coach, stressed the importance of the match to correct the team's path during the press conference held at the JW Marriott Hotel on Wednesday.
“We will play the match on our ground and in front of our fans against a competitor who has not lost in the past two matches. The match is not easy, but at the same time it is not difficult”.
“What matters to us is to be fully present, the players must trust themselves and implement the instructions, and we must work well to get a positive result”.
“We studied Kuwait team and its strengths and weaknesses, they have strong incentive to continue achieving good results, and all teams have an exposed style of play, and whoever can impose their style on the field that will lead them to win in the end,” he concluded.
Oman player Mohammed al Musalmi said: “The match is difficult, and our goal is to return to the competition after stumbling against Iraq and South Korea. We hope that luck will be on our side, and we will do everything we have to do. We aspire to achieve victory and bring joy to the fans.”
On the other hand, Kuwait are confident after two points from two matches, which they collected from two valuable draws against Jordan and Iraq.
Juan Pizzi, coach of Kuwait team, said “We are optimistic before the difficult match against Oman, and we hope to achieve a good result, indicating that he saw the level of the Oman team, and presented high levels but did not obtain positive results.”
“We know the importance of the crowd's momentum, and their impact on the players, indicating that they are able to achieve victory, and overcome all the circumstances surrounding the match, and I tell the players that we play 11 versus 11,” he added.
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