(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) The man credited to leading Oman to its second Gulf Cup title in January this year, Pim Verbeek of the Netherlands, has renewed his deal with the Oman football Association (OFA) on Monday and will remain at the helm of the national team till June 2020.
The 62 year old Dutchman, who is known to be a master tactician, confirmed to Muscat Daily on Monday that he has agreed with the Oman Football Association to stay with the national team for another year and a half.
The OFA also confirmed the renewal of the deal on its official
twitter account saying that Verbeek will lead Oman in the January Asian Cup finals and then manage the team's progress in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.
Talks between Verbeek and the OFA chairman, Sheikh Salim al Wahaibi, had been going on for past few weeks with the latest taking place last week. Though the formal signing of the contract renewal is yet to be done, the OFA announced the news on Monday.
The contract of Verbeek, who took over the Oman football team reins in January 2017, was to end this December.
But, following the spectacular title success achieved by the Red Warriors at the 23rd Gulf Cup in Kuwait, when Oman edged past its arch-rival UAE 5-4 in a penalty shootout in the title clash, there has been an increasing pressure on the OFA to retain the Dutchman for a longer tenure.In his exclusive remarks to Muscat Daily on Monday,
Verbeek said, 'There was always a plan for me and the OFA to stay longer but we did not want to come to a hurried decision.
'I had fruitful talks with Sheikh Salim [al Wahaibi], the OFA chairman, and I am happy to stay with this talented group of boys and lead them in the 2019 Asian Cup finals and further till mid-2020.
'The immediate target for me and the OFA is a good show at the Asian Cup. After the Asian Cup, the next goal will be to guide the team to the final round of the World Cup qualifiers in the FIFA 2022 World Cup.'
The Dutchman added, 'We will review the deal again in June 2020 and if things are fine, then we continue together.'
Asian Cup preparations
With the OFA announcing the 2018-19 domestic season schedule on Sunday and the season kicking off on August 10 with the Super Cup between Al Suwaiq and Al Nasr clubs, and the Omantel League starting a week later, the initial plan of holding an overseas camp in August for the national team in Europe has been disbanded.
Verbeek said, 'With the league starting in early August, there is no way we can have a camp in Europe during that time. We will now work to arrange strong friendlies for the team on the possible FIFA days as we will begin our preparations for the Asian Cup from September 2.'
With three FIFA Day breaks in international calendar scheduled on September 3-11, October 8-16 and November 12-20 and a long camp that will include an overseas trip in
December, Verbeek is hopeful of a good performance at the Asian Cup finals in UAE that will be held from January 5-February 1 in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Al Ain and Sharjah.
Oman is pooled in a tough Group F that includes four-time champion Japan, strong Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.
The top two teams from the six groups will advance to the round of 16 along with the four best third- placed teams.
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