MUSCAT, Nov 14
Oman’s Mohsin al Ghassani scored the all-important goal to lead Red Warriors for a tight 1-0 win over fighting Palestine on Thursday night at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex.
The victory meant, Oman revived their hopes in the AFC Asian Qualifiers — Road to 26 of group B as the team reached to the six points in the group while Palestine remained on their two points to dent their qualification hopes for 2026 Fifa World Cup.
In their next match, Oman will meet Iraq on Tuesday in Muscat.
On Thursday, Oman’s Nasser al Rawahi made the first scoring attempt as he entered the danger area but his shot went to the side of the net in the seventh minute. Red Warriors, as they were seeking for the win to revive their chances in the campaign, pressed hard to score an early goal but the defending line of the opponent’s side was very tight to break their attempts.
Defender Ahmed al Khamisi sent a shot from outside the box but was saved by Palestine goalkeeper Rami Hamada. After 25 minutes of the first half, the rivals began their domination and worked hard to create some scoring chances. Palestine's Wessam Abouli was the star for the visitors as he created concerns for the Oman defence with some excellent moves.
In the 31st minute, Abouli sent a ground ball but it was saved Ibrahim al Mukhaini who also repeated the act to prevent a strong header by the same player in the 33rd minute. The first half ended in a goalless draw after both teams could not break the deadlock.
In the following half, Rasheed Jaber preferred to continue with the same squad while Palestine coach Makram Dabdoub made two substitutions as Wajdi Nabhan replaced injured Mohammed Khalil while Mohammed Rashid entered in place of Amid Mahajna because of an injury.
In the 59th minute, the Oman coach made two substitutions consecutively as Zaher al Aghbari and Arshad al Alawi entered to replace Nasser al Rawahi and Abdullah Fawaz respectively.
In the 67th minute, Bangkok United forward Mohsin al Ghassani was alone in the opponent goal to create the first actual scoring attempt but his shot was cleared for a corner. In the 71st minute, Ibrahim al Mukhaini saved a dangerous shot from Oday Dabbagh to keep his net clean.
FINAL PUSH
Oman had a great chance in the 77th minute to lead as substitute Esam al Subhi, who replaced Abdulrahman al Mushaifri, sped on to face Palestine goalie Rami Hamada but his shot went outside the post.
In 83rd minute, Oman’s Mohsin al Ghassani tapped in a rebound from Esam al Subhi’s shot, for the winner. Palestine strikers worked hard in the remaining minutes for an equaliser but Oman defenders and goalkeeper Ibrahim al Mukhaini broke all the attempts as the match ended with a 1-0 win for Oman.
A good turnout of 21,754 fans attended the match at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex to support the national team.
Oman head coach Rasheed Jaber began the fifth match of the Asian Qualifiers — Road to 26 with a straining line-up featuring from Ibrahim al Mukhaini as goalkeeper. The defence line up comprised Mohammed al Musallami, Abdulaziz al Shoumsi, Ahmed al Khamisi and Ahmed al Kaabi. Harib al Saadi monitored the centre line accompanied by Abdullah Fawaz, Abdulrahman al Mushaifri, Nasser al Rawahi and Jameel al Yahmadi. The only striker in the front line was Mohsin al Ghassani.
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