The men’s national football team of Oman exited the second round of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, forcing the national coach Juan Ramon Lopez Caro to design an elaborate plan to fire up the team which will be free till early next year.

Lopez Caro announced that the team will have a series of domestic and international camps including couple of high-profile international friendly matches so far confirmed in August and November to keep the team in shape.

Lopez Caro anonuced this at a press conference at the Oman Football Association (OFA) headquarters on Monday, adding that the team would play Northern Ireland in the first of the international friendly on August 31 during its camp in Europe from August 17-September 6. They are also scheduled to play another friendly which will be hosted by Asian heavyweight Japan on November 11.

Lopez Caro said:

“My objective to host three domestic camps from June to August is to get a good idea of the new and promising players. I will have a good look and if they impress, then they could join the core group of the existing team.”

The first of the domestic camps will take place from the 1st day to the fifth next month with 26 young players with three players – Khalil al Darmaki (Al Ahli, UAE) Hisham al Shuaibi (Al Arouba) and Abdulaziz al Hosni (Muscat) – called up for the first time to national team. The rest of the players have represented the country in age-group or Under-23 Olympic teams.

The team will also hold a European camp in England or Scotland with friendly match planned during the period against Northern Ireland. The OFA also announced that they are working to ensure the national team play during FIFA days from October 3-11 and November 7-15 to ensure the team bound together and achieve results next year.