The Dutchman had rushed to Amsterdam, The Netherlands last Thursday - to attend to his critically-ill sister - before the ongoing preparatory camp had begunon Monday.
Jassim al Shukaili, the Oman Football Association's (OFA) second vice-chairman and head of the national teams committee, toldMuscat Daily
on Wednesdaythat Verbeek was granted leave in view of the family emergency and he would miss the game against Bhutan following the sad news of his sister's death. 'Following the sad news that we received lateon Wednesdaynight, coach Verbeek will not be able to be lead the team against Bhutan.'
Verbeek had taken up the Oman job in the first week of January and the Bhutan match would have been his first official game in charge of the national team.
In his absence, Oman will be marshalled by Verbeek's deputy coaches - Muhanna Said al Adawi and Waleed al Saadi.
Muhanna has previously served as assistant to Verbeek's predecessor Paul Le Guen. More recently, he was in charge of the Oman team that won its maiden Military World Cup title in Muscat in January.
Saadi, meanwhile, has been named assistant coach for the first time. He has been credited for the rise of current Omantel Professional League (OPL) leader Al Shabab this season.
The final 23 players have been named for the second preparatory camp, that beganon Mondayand will continue up to theMarch 28match.
National team captain Ali al Habsi will join the teamon Thursdayalong with three other overseas players - Mohammed Faraj al Rawahi (Girona, Spain), Ahmed Mubarak 'Kanu' (Al Markhiya, Qatar) and Khalid al Hajri (Al Dhafra, UAE).
The rest of the players are all playing in the domestic league. The visiting Bhutan side is expected to arrive onMarch 26for the match. Besides Oman and Bhutan, Group D comprises Palestine and Maldives.
The winners and runners-up from the six groups - a total of 12 teams - will qualify for the final competition of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup UAE. They will be joined by 12 other teams, including defending champion Australia, China, Iraq, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Thailand, Uzbekistan and hosts UAE. The home team has already qualified to the finals through the 2018 FIFA World Cup and the 2019 AFC Asian Cup preliminary joint qualification round two.
After the Bhutan game, Oman will travel to Palestine to play its second group match onJune 13and then host Maldives onSeptember 5. It then travels to Maldives for the away game onOctober 10, followed by Bhutan on the road onNovember 14. Oman then hosts Palestine in the last qualifying match onMarch 27, 2018.