Oman to face Saudi Arabia in AFC Asian Cup Tomorrow

Doha: Oman’s national football team will open its campaign in the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023 on Tuesday with an opening match against neighbor Saudi Arabia at the Khalifa International Stadium in Al Rayyan at 9:30 pm (MCT) .

Oman playing in Group 6 alongside Saudi, Kyrgyzstan and Thailand. The AFC Asian Cup runs until February 10, 2024.

The team completed its readiness to play the match through daily training upon its arrival in Doha, Qatar, at the training fields at Qatar University, focusing on the technical aspects and enhancing the skill aspects.

The last training session for the team and will be closed to put the final touches on the lineup that Branko will start with.

In the press conference held today Oman national team coach Branko Ivankovic said:” We participate in the Asian Nations Cup with high ambition and are proud to be part of the tournament, which is considered one of the best Asian tournaments, and our group is difficult, but we have ambition and passion to advance to the next rounds.

He added: “We started with the best opponent in the group, but we have previously played several matches with big teams. I have sufficient information about the Saudi team, which is a nominated team and one of the best teams in Asia. Our team is ready for the confrontation and our first goal is to qualify for the second stage.”

For his part, player Hareb Al-Saadi said: We are excited to participate in the tournament and the players are up to the responsibility and we will give everything we have… We played two matches against Saudi Arabia in the Asian qualifiers and we performed well, and we are ready for the match.

The second confrontation for the Reds will be against the Thailand  national team on January 21 at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium, and the third and final confrontation for the team in the group stage will be against the Kyrgyzstan national team on January 25 at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium.

The top two teams in each group qualify for the round of 16, along with the four best third-placed teams. This is the first meeting between Oman national team and the Saudi team in the Asian Cup, and this is the fifth appearance of Oman national team in the Asian Cup, as it has never achieved any victory in each of the previous four opening matches after drawing one match and losing in the other three matches.