Muscat - Oman repeated history and proved the pundits why they are arguably the best team in the region after the Claude Le Roy-coached side once again beat World Cup regulars Saudi Arabia in a spectacular fashion as a pulsating atmosphere at the newly built Sa’ad Stadium in Salalah powered the host to a 2-1 win.
Le Roy had said that a different Oman would be on show and the colourful hordes who filled the 12,000-capacity stadium hours before kickoff got their reward as Oman looked a more powerful team.
Gulf Cup top scorer Hassan Rabe’ea continued his brilliant form to shine for his country. The host completely dominated the game from the start and Le Roy’s boys rightfully followed his “attack, attack” mantra when the athletic Fouzi Bashir, whose extraordinary extendible legs hit a 25-yard strike straight that failed to hit the nets in the 10th minute of first half of play.
Oman missed a couple of chances in the form of Sheeba, Hassan Mudhafar and the star striker Imad Al Hosni.
With the score nil-nil at half-time, Hassan Rabe’ea fired his first goal connected through a pass from Ahmed Hadid in the 46th minute of second half.
The Saudis were seen being more defensive while Omani players kept the match alive. Hassan struck for the second time with a neat header in the 63rd minute of second half and once again it was delicate cross from Ahmed Hadid.
But as the referee signalled for an extra five minutes injury time, Sheeba collided with a Saudi player only to bring a penalty goal in favour of the Saudis. But crowd chanted ‘Habsi, Habsi’ in anticipation of the ever reliable star keeper Ali’s heroics. The optimism was misplaced. Nasser Al Shamrani stepped up and stroked the ball to Habsi’s left — but the Bolton Wanderers couldn’t stop it.
Crowd delighted
But within a minute after that, the referee signalled the final whistle as Al Habsi roared his delight to the crowd, pumping both fists, before crashing chests with a relieved Hashim Saleh.
Staccato cries of ‘Oman’ continued to pulse round the ground, with stands full of white dishdashas mingled with red Oman shirts making an impressive spectacle under the black sky.
The Sultanate side had earlier defeated the Asian giants during the final of the 19th Gulf Cup and it was after seven months the rivals were meeting against each other.
After celebrating on the pitch, coach Le Roy hailed his side’s ‘fantastic’ performance.
“Some of the Saudi media had predicted that Hassan Rabe’ea will not play well today (yesterday) but he proved them all wrong and I am delighted with his performance,” he said during the post match press conference yesterday.
Hassan had four of Oman’s seven goals during the Gulf Cup and later became the highest paid football player in the Middle East.
He went on to praise Al Habsi, and said his team had respected Saudis for 90 minutes despite the score line. “When you have a goalkeeper like Al Habsi you’re always a better coach,” Le Roy said.
“We also have four very good defenders and it won’t be easy for any team to beat us. But it is only one game,” said the sharp-suited French extrovert. “I want my players always to attack and attack.”
“But we also respected the Saudi team and played very seriously right until the end. So I like both the performance and the behaviour of my players,” he said.
“Saudi Arabian football was not new to me,” he roared in response to one question.
“I led my Cameroon side against Saudi in the Afro-Asian cup back in 1985. Then my own boys beat them in the Gulf Cup. We had prepared in a better way this time,” he said with a big smile.
Home advantage
Saudi coach Jose Peseiro congratulated the Omanis and praised Le Roy for his tactics while admitting that his side took the ‘red-warriors’ for granted.
“They were simply superb and once again shown why they are the best in this region. The crowd advantage was another factor which supported them. To be frank we were outplayed completely by a far superior side,” said the former assistant coach of Real Madrid.
Oman’s Ahmed Hadid and Saudis Naif Hazzazi were declared the best players. Le Roy’s boys will next host South Korea this month and then will fly to Qatar for a friendly before heading to Australia for the Asia Cup qualification round in October.
Source: http://thewebtalk.net
Le Roy had said that a different Oman would be on show and the colourful hordes who filled the 12,000-capacity stadium hours before kickoff got their reward as Oman looked a more powerful team.
Gulf Cup top scorer Hassan Rabe’ea continued his brilliant form to shine for his country. The host completely dominated the game from the start and Le Roy’s boys rightfully followed his “attack, attack” mantra when the athletic Fouzi Bashir, whose extraordinary extendible legs hit a 25-yard strike straight that failed to hit the nets in the 10th minute of first half of play.
Oman missed a couple of chances in the form of Sheeba, Hassan Mudhafar and the star striker Imad Al Hosni.
With the score nil-nil at half-time, Hassan Rabe’ea fired his first goal connected through a pass from Ahmed Hadid in the 46th minute of second half.
The Saudis were seen being more defensive while Omani players kept the match alive. Hassan struck for the second time with a neat header in the 63rd minute of second half and once again it was delicate cross from Ahmed Hadid.
But as the referee signalled for an extra five minutes injury time, Sheeba collided with a Saudi player only to bring a penalty goal in favour of the Saudis. But crowd chanted ‘Habsi, Habsi’ in anticipation of the ever reliable star keeper Ali’s heroics. The optimism was misplaced. Nasser Al Shamrani stepped up and stroked the ball to Habsi’s left — but the Bolton Wanderers couldn’t stop it.
Crowd delighted
But within a minute after that, the referee signalled the final whistle as Al Habsi roared his delight to the crowd, pumping both fists, before crashing chests with a relieved Hashim Saleh.
Staccato cries of ‘Oman’ continued to pulse round the ground, with stands full of white dishdashas mingled with red Oman shirts making an impressive spectacle under the black sky.
The Sultanate side had earlier defeated the Asian giants during the final of the 19th Gulf Cup and it was after seven months the rivals were meeting against each other.
After celebrating on the pitch, coach Le Roy hailed his side’s ‘fantastic’ performance.
“Some of the Saudi media had predicted that Hassan Rabe’ea will not play well today (yesterday) but he proved them all wrong and I am delighted with his performance,” he said during the post match press conference yesterday.
Hassan had four of Oman’s seven goals during the Gulf Cup and later became the highest paid football player in the Middle East.
He went on to praise Al Habsi, and said his team had respected Saudis for 90 minutes despite the score line. “When you have a goalkeeper like Al Habsi you’re always a better coach,” Le Roy said.
“We also have four very good defenders and it won’t be easy for any team to beat us. But it is only one game,” said the sharp-suited French extrovert. “I want my players always to attack and attack.”
“But we also respected the Saudi team and played very seriously right until the end. So I like both the performance and the behaviour of my players,” he said.
“Saudi Arabian football was not new to me,” he roared in response to one question.
“I led my Cameroon side against Saudi in the Afro-Asian cup back in 1985. Then my own boys beat them in the Gulf Cup. We had prepared in a better way this time,” he said with a big smile.
Home advantage
Saudi coach Jose Peseiro congratulated the Omanis and praised Le Roy for his tactics while admitting that his side took the ‘red-warriors’ for granted.
“They were simply superb and once again shown why they are the best in this region. The crowd advantage was another factor which supported them. To be frank we were outplayed completely by a far superior side,” said the former assistant coach of Real Madrid.
Oman’s Ahmed Hadid and Saudis Naif Hazzazi were declared the best players. Le Roy’s boys will next host South Korea this month and then will fly to Qatar for a friendly before heading to Australia for the Asia Cup qualification round in October.
Source: http://thewebtalk.net