Oman face UAE in crucial Asian qualifiers clash, Iraq meet Indonesia

Oman’s only option will be victory when they face the UAE in their AFC Asian qualifiers– Road to 26 Playoffs Group A tie on Saturday.

Carlos Queiroz’s side battled to a goalless draw with Qatar on Wednesday, giving them hope of a first qualification to the FIFA World Cup finals should they defeat UAE at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium.

The steely performance against Qatar, however, did come at a cost with the influential Jameel Al Yahmadi taken off in the 24th minute after a hefty challenge and is now confirmed to be out of contention for the UAE match.

Queiroz could opt to provide striker Issam Alsabhi more support up front with Oman only managing to score in six of their 10 matches in the previous stage of the Qualifiers.

UAE head coach Cosmin Olaroiu would have picked up plenty of pointers from analysing Oman’s encounter with Qatar.

The Romanian tactician is unbeaten in the three matches he has handled since taking over from Paulo Bento, a run that included vital results in the previous phase.

Olaroiu oversaw back-to-back draws with Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan in the AFC Asian Qualifiers – Road to 26 Group A ties that secured their spot in the Playoffs.

Expected to field Sasa Ivkovic in defence with veteran Fabio Lima in attack, UAE can also look to the pace of Ali Saleh and Harib Suhail on the flanks as means to hurt Oman.

Iraq take on Indonesia: Iraq and Indonesia will lock horns in Group B playoffs with both sides needing victory to keep their FIFA World Cup dreams alive.

Iraq are aiming for a long-awaited return to the global stage, while Indonesia know that anything other than a win will dent their hopes of progression.

Iraq enter the tie determined to secure their second FIFA World Cup appearance, having featured in the 1986 edition in Mexico with head coach Graham Arnold confident of emulating that achievement. Their King Cup’s triumph over Thailand in September was a statement of intent and Arnold will expect Mohanad Ali, Ali Jasim and Aymen Hussein to deliver once again.

With Saudi Arabia setting the early pace after their opening win against Indonesia, Iraq know they have to make a winning start.

“We are very excited about the game tomorrow night. Obviously World Cup qualifiers are very important and it seems like we’ve been waiting a long time. But we’re all ready to go now,” said Arnold.

“I think if I have to give the team a rating out of 10 then we’re 10. Discipline from the boys has never been an issue for me, they’ve been fantastic. 100 percent. We have one training session to go and then we’re ready.

“The biggest positive for me has been all the players are playing a lot of football at their clubs. If I compare their fitness levels to four months ago when I first started this job they look completely different players.”

For Indonesia, the fixture carries the weight of needing to end their long wait since first appearing on the global stage in 1938 as the Dutch East Indies and head coach Patrick Kluivert knows this campaign offers a chance to create history.

Against Saudi Arabia, Indonesia put up a brave performance which ultimately ended in heartbreak as the hosts walked away 3-2 winners.

That leaves victory as Indonesia’s only option.

“The Iraqi team, we have to respect them. In the previous games they had a good result against us but the situation now is different. We need to win, that’s the only thing that we need to do,” said Kluivert.

“It’s going to be very difficult, but we are brave people. We have a team that really sticks with each other, behind each other and for each other and we need to show that as well tomorrow.

“We played well in the game against Saudi Arabia and we will bring it on. We know the fans are standing behind us and we have to be there for them because we are representing a big country.”