Oman Football: OFA all set to host International Youth Football Tournament

Sports Monday 02/October/2017 22:12 PM
By: Times News Service
Oman Football: OFA all set to host International Youth Football Tournament

Muscat: With Egypt and Syria confirming their participation, the Oman Football Association (OFA) is all set to organise the International Youth Friendly Football Tournament from Thursday.
The tournament was originally planned as a four-team competition but with the Uzbekistan expressing their inability to participate it will now be a three-team event that will run till October 9.
“Uzbekistan have conveyed their inability to take part in the tournament. Now we will have three teams competing for the top honours,” the OFA said in a press statement on Monday.
The OFA is organising the tournament to provide Oman under-19 national team much-needed match practice ahead of their participation in the forthcoming qualifying competition for the 2018 AFC U-19 Championship.
Following Uzbekistan’s withdrawal, a fresh tournament draw has been conducted, the OFA informed.
As per the new draw, which was conducted in the presence of OFA first vice-chairman and Tournament Director Mohsin bin Mohammed Al Masroori, the matches will be played on single round robin league format.
All matches will be played from 6.30 pm at the Seeb Sports Stadium.
The inaugural match, involving Oman and Egypt, will played on Thursday. Egypt and Syria will lock on horns in the second match on Saturday while the tournament will conclude on with Oman -Syria match on Monday,
AFC U-19 qualifiers
In the AFC U-19 Championship qualifiers, Oman are placed in Group A along with Bahrain, the UAE, Nepal and Kyrgyzstan.
The Group A matches will take place in Kyrgyzstan’s capital city of Bishkek from October 31 to November 11.
The top teams from ten groups and five best second-placed teams qualify for the 2018 AFC U-19 Championship, which is scheduled to take place in Indonesia from October 18 to November 4, 2018.