Wednesday 23 / October / 2024
Muscat: Juan Ramon Lopez Caro’s Oman, who are currently preparing for the next year’s Asian Cup qualifiers and Gulf Cup football championship, will take on visiting Turkmenistan in a friendly match on Monday.
The match, to be played at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, is scheduled to kick off at 7.30 p.m.
Lopez Caro, a former Real Madrid and Saudi Arabian national team coach, has called up 31 players for a recent training camp and Monday’s match against Turkmenistan provides the Spaniard with the opportunity to assess the strengths and weaknesses his players, including the recalled central defender Mohammed Sheiba Al Balushi, and finalise his plans for the future assignments of the national team.
Thanks to three training camps, an extensive 11-day camp in Salalah sandwiched between two relatively shoter camps in Muscat, Lopez Caro would have already got an idea of what his wards are capable of and what can be expected from them.
Following the friendly match against Turkmenistan, Oman will be travelling to London for another lenghthy training-cum-conditioning camp from August 17 to September 6.
During the London camp, Oman will also be playing a friendly match against Norther Ireland on August 31.
Though Oman’s next competitive matches will be in March next year in the form of the third round of Asian Cup qualifiers, the Spanish coach has chalked out a detailed training programme for the team that will run till November this year.
As part of that progamme, Oman will be playing two friendlies during a camp in October - against Jordan on October 7 and Bahrain on October 11.
Oman are also scheduled to play a friendly against Japan on November 11.
