(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Days after renewing his deal with the Oman Football Association (OFA), the national football team coach, Pim Verbeek, announced a hectic schedule for the Red Warriors ahead of the team's participation in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup in UAE.
The 17th edition of the Asian Cup, which is the continent's biggest football competition, will be held across the UAE from January 5-February 1.
Speaking at the OFA headquarters on Wednesday, the 62 year old Dutchman said, 'We are looking ahead for good preparations for the Asian Cup. We know that we are in a tough group but to prepare for that, we need to prepare well.
'The most important thing is to have good preparations for such tournaments. And as part of our team's build-up, we will have a series of international friendlies in Oman and neighbouring countries till the Asian Cup.'
National team manager Maqbool al Balushi said that the coach will be holding internal and external preparatory camps, beginning from September 1, when the team travels to Jordan for 12 days.
The friendly against hosts Jordan on September 11 will be the first of a series of friendlies planned till January 3.
And Oman will be put to a litmus test days before the Asian Cup kickoff as it will take on defending Asian Cup champion and Verbeek's former team, Australia, in a friendly on December 30 in the UAE. However, the final warm-up match will be against Thailand, also in UAE, on
January 2 as Oman will hold its concluding preparatory camp in UAE from December 23 to January 3, 2019.
Following the Jordan trip, the next camp will in October in Doha, Qatar from October 7-16 during which Oman will play against Yemen on October 14 and another friendly against Ecuador two day later.
With the domestic season beginning in August, Verbeek is left with the option of calling national team players only during the three FIFA international break from September to November.
During the November break, Oman will play two matches against Kyrgyzstan between November 12-20.
Prior to the final preparatory camp in UAE, a domestic camp will be held in Muscat from
December 7-22 that will feature three international friendlies at home, with the rival teams yet to be finalised.
Verbeek said he expected the national team to feature a good mix of young and experienced players. The team is likely to revolve around experienced players like goalkeeper Ali al Habsi and Gulf Cup-winning hero Faiz al Rusheidi, midfielders Ahmed Mubarak 'Kanu' and Raed Ibrahim, defenders Mohammed al Mussalami and Saad Suhail and strikers Khalid al Hajri and Abdulaziz al Miqbali.
At the Asian Cup, 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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