Oman's 51st away match in WC Qualifiers

Muscat: The first official meeting between Oman national team and Jordan was at Amman International Stadium in 1989 in the World Cup qualifiers 'Italy 1990'. Tuesday's match was the ninth in the history in continental competitions, while the previous eight matches were four in the World Cup qualifiers and four in the Asian Cup qualifiers.

Oman team has never won at the Amman International Stadium, including their famous confrontation in the decisive round to determine the ticket to qualify for the Asian qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup, when Jordan won 1-0.

The match against Jordan was the 51st in the history of Oman national team outside home in the World Cup qualifiers. In the past 50 matches, Oman team had won 17 matches, drew 12 times, and lost 21 times. Oman had scored 60 goals and conceded 59 goals. The biggest win was against Chinese Taipei 7-1 in the 1994 qualifiers, and the 6-0 win against Nepal in Tokyo in the 1998 qualifiers. The biggest loss was against Uzbekistan 5-0 in Tashkent in the final stage of the 2002 qualifiers.

The match against Jordan on Tuesday was officiated by a Saudi refereeing team led by referee Khalid al Turais, assisted by line referees Mohammed al Abkari and Abdulrahim al Shammari, while Faisal al Balawi was the fourth referee. Singaporean referee Mohammed Taqi was the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology.

Jordan started their journey in the third stage with a surprising stumble at home after a 1-1 draw with Kuwaiti team, before regaining their balance in the second round when they outperformed Palestine. Jordan next lost at home against South Korean at Amman International Stadium in the third round.

On the other side, South Korean team confirmed their Group B lead with three points difference to second place, when they inflicted the first loss on the Iraqi team 3-2 on Tuesday. Iraq are at seven points in the second place.

World Cup 2026 will witness 48 teams in the United States, Canada and Mexico. While Asian qualifiers witness participation of nine Arab teams out of 18, which are divided into three groups, each group includes six teams.

The first and second place teams will qualify directly for the World Cup, while the third and fourth place will compete in a play-off, from which two teams will qualify to join the six qualifiers.