The final match of the 26th Arabian Gulf Cup, scheduled on Saturday, will witness a special confrontation between Rasheed Jaber, Oman coach, and Croatian Dragan Talajic, coach of Bahrain.
Both have a bright football history, and the secret word between them is ‘Dhofar’, as each coaches the Dhofar Club.
Rasheed Jaber was born in 1964 in Salalah in Dhofar Governorate.
He has been associated with the Dhofar Club as a player for more than 40 years, which has a historical record as he scored all the goals of the Dhofar team against the Ahli Sidab Club in the final of His Majesty the Sultan’s Cup in 1980.
Rasheed led Dhofar as a coach and won the quadruple with them in 1999.
The first national coach to lead the first national team in 1996, he led Oman in the Asian qualifiers for the World Cup.
He also achieved an advanced position in the ongoing Gulf Cup as the first Omani coach.
Dragan Talajic managed Dhofar Club in 2013 with a one-season contract.
Talajic achieved many accomplishments, winning the AFC Champions League with Al Ittihad Saudi Club in 2004, and led Kuwait SC to the AFC Cup final in 2011.
The national team’s preparatory training continued at Khaitan Club on Thursday evening under the supervision of Jaber.
It appears that Oman goalkeeper Ibrahim al Mukhaini will not be included in the national team’s squad according to initial indications. Striker Al Mundher al Alawi is also expected to be out due to the red card in the semifinal.
During training, the team sources said the squad is unaffected by the absence of any player.
Oman captain Mohammed al Musallami said: “Of course we are ready, the morale is very high, the final match must be difficult against the Bahraini team, but we are determined to give the same effort and return to Oman with the championship.”
“I mentioned before that we are a team, we do not depend on a specific player, we play as a team in the semifinal, we had more than one deficiency and we played an excellent match,” he said.
“In fact, we do not have an alternative player, everyone play as main and everyone will give top performance.”
“The two teams play with the same style and that is not going to affect us. It will be an enjoyable match, of course, and I hope that it will be a final match that suits for both teams.”
“The final match is always equal and we hope to be the winning party at the end,” Al Musallami concluded.
‘READY FOR FINAL’
Oman goalkeeper Fayez al Rushaidi said the team is ready for the final.
“The team is ready for the final match. We played an excellent match with Saudi Arabia in the semifinal. We forget the last match and we think about the next match.”
“The Bahrain and Oman teams reached the final through their hard work.”
“The technical staff will prepare well for the match and we have complete confidence in the coach. The match will not be easy,” Fayez said.
“We always praise the presence of the Omani fans and their presence is very important. We will not lose on the field.”
“We won against the Bahraini team in the past periods, but this is not a measure of the final match,” he ended.
Meanwhile, the Referees Committee of the Arabian Gulf Cup Football Federation held a meeting attended by Gulf members. The meeting included a review of the referees’ performance.
The committee focused on evaluating the referees’ performance and reviewing the submitted reports, in addition to taking the necessary decisions to enhance the refereeing performance.
Three refereeing teams are competing to manage the final match, the first team is led by Algerian referee Mustafa Gherbal, the second team is led by Qatari referee Abdulrahman al Jassim, and the third team is led by Iraqi referee Muhannad Qasim Issa.
Oman players during a training session in Kuwait City. — Hussain al Maqbali
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