Indian National Team

Indian national team: Know your rivals - Oman

With the Indian national team set to face Oman in an international friendly on Thursday, Goal.com gives a detailed insight on the West Asian outfit...

21-Feb-2012 6:15:00 PM

By Ayush Srivastava

More On : India, Oman

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Oman Flag (Getty)

Team India are set to face Oman as part of their preparations for the upcoming Challenge Cup next month which gives them an opportunity to book a berth in the 2015 Asian Cup.

Goal.com provides you all the information you need on the Omani Daggers.

1) FIFA Ranking: The Oman National team are presently ranked 95th in the World and 11th in Asia. Their highest ever FIFA ranking was 50th in August 2004, remarkably just a bit more than a year after falling to 117th, their lowest FIFA ranking ever.

Paul Le Guen

2) Head Coach: The Omani Daggers are coached by Frenchman Paul Le Guen, who is an ex-France International player and successfully managed clubs of the stature of Lyon, Paris Saint-Germain and Glasgow Rangers.

3) Initial Roots: The Oman National Football Team was founded in 1978, although they had taken part in several tournaments before that. The Oman Football Association was formed only in December 2005, in a bid to control the game better.

4) Never Played In A World Cup: The country has never qualified for a World Cup, although they are still in the running for the 2014 edition, presently lying third in their third round group, and facing Thailand in their final game on 29th February.

5) Continental Tournaments: They have though reached the Asian Cup twice in 2004 and 2007, getting knocked out in the first round itself. The senior team’s best performance so far has been in the Gulf Cup, which they won in 2009, after having lost in the final twice before.

6) Performance At Olympics And Junior Level: The Reds have also never qualified for the Olympics, but at the junior level they have had some success as they qualified for the Junior World Cup in Ecuador in 1995 finishing fourth in the competition. They also qualified for the 1997 and 2001 Junior World Cups.

7) Most Valuable Player: Their star player is undoubtedly Ali Al-Habsi, who plies his trade at Wigan Athletic in England. The custodian is a star back home, not only because he plays in the English Premier League but also because of his displays in National colours, where he has often bordered on world-class.

Ali Al-Habsi

8) Famous Players: The team’s captain is Mohd Rabia, who is a veteran of 84 national caps and plays for Dhofar in Oman. A rugged defender, he has been a faithful old servant of the Omani Daggers. Amad Al Hosni is another popular players amongst the Omani faithful, having previously turned out for Belgium outfit Charleroi. The Al-Ahli striker is lethal in front of goal, having scored at a ratio of more than a goal every two games in his international career.

9) Last Home Game At Muscat: What will be particularly alarming for the Indian National team is the rapid progress Oman has made in the last few years and in the last competitive game they played in Muscat, they defeated Australia 1-0. So India might well have to be at their best to have even an inkling of a chance against the Reds.

10) Head-to-head: India and Oman have faced each other just three times, worryingly for India, they haven’t managed even a single win. The Omani Daggers have won twice while one game ended in a draw.

Last Lineup: Ali Abdullah (c) – Eid Al Farsi – Ali Al Jabri – Mohd Al Balushi – Hussain Al Hadhri – Fouzi Bashir – Saad Al Mukhaini – Abdul Al Mukhaini – Abdul Al Maqbali – Hassan Yousuf – Amad Al Hosni

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