Monday 18 / November / 2024
Muscat: The Sultanate of Oman's national football team will meet its Iraqi counterpart on Tuesday, November 19, 2024 in the sixth round of the final Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup at 8:00 pm at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Bausher.
Our team enters the match with the aim of winning and getting the three points to enhance its chances of qualifying as it occupies fourth place with 6 points in the second group competitions led by the South Korean team with 13 points, while the Jordanian and Iraqi teams come in second and third place with 8 points. The Kuwaiti team occupies fifth place with 3 points and the Palestinian team with 2 points.
Our national team coach Rashid Jaber said in the press conference: "Tomorrow's match is the beginning of the second leg of the qualifiers, and it is an important stage. We seek to win and get a positive result, especially since the match is on our home ground and in front of our fans. We trust our players and their capabilities. We have a group of distinguished players with experience. We will try to impose our style, high focus, and mental and physical presence against a team that has a good group of players and is one of the best teams in Asia."
He added: "We have great ambition to continue our journey in the qualifiers and are two points away from reaching second place, which qualifies directly for the finals."
For his part, the Iraqi national team coach Jesus Casas said: "Tomorrow's match is an important and difficult match, and the two teams know each other, as we have previously played three matches in two years. We are ready for the match and winning depends on several factors."
He added: "Both teams have absences and we will try to overcome these absences. Playing away from home is more difficult, but we will try to win."
The FIFA Referees Committee has assigned an Emirati refereeing team to lead the match between our national team and Iraq, led by international Omar Mohammed Al Ali, assisted by Mohammed Al Hammadi, Jassim Al Ali and fourth referee Sultan Mohammed Al Hammadi. While referee Mohammed Obaid will be in the VAR room, assisted by Saqr Hamdan Al Zaabi, and Qatari Jassim Al Hail will monitor the referees, while Uzbek Sheril Janalaev will be responsible for the VAR technology.
Our national team and the Iraqi team will undergo the basic training session this evening on the match field, focusing on putting the final touches on the starting lineup that the two teams will start the match with.
In the rest of the group matches, the Palestinian team will host the South Korean team at the Amman International Stadium in the Jordanian capital, while the Kuwaiti team will face its Jordanian counterpart at Jaber International Stadium.
