Team Melli next opponent is Oman.
Oman is a quasi-familiar team for Iran as the teams have met 12 times before. The stats indicate that Team Melli had the upper hand in the majority of the matches with 6 wins. The one and only official match loss to Oman was back in 1998 Asian Games. It was a shock 4-2 defeat in the group stages for the team that has just created the Miracle in Lyonne by defeating USA in the World Cup. Iran eventually won the gold medal of Asian Games and that defeat was irrelevant.
After 21 years since that defeat, Oman also managed to win a single friendly game 3-1 in 2013. Meanwhile, Team Melli was victor in the majority of the matches including a 5-2 rout in Azadi.
Despite the figures, Oman has always been a tough team for Team Melli. The fighting spirit of the Omani team and their resolve lessens their lack of skill and experience. The progress of this country’s football was tremendous. Few decades back, Oman was the punching bag of the rest of the Persian Gulf football countries. With limited resources and the lowest GDP of all the Persian Gulf states, the sultanate could not afford to spend millions on football like their rich neighbors. Basic facilities and resources, however, did not prevent a determined nation to progress and to finally become a champion.
Defeats by large margins of goal in the Persian Gulf Cup tournaments were quite normal for Oman. However, step by step, the football in this country improved and developed until they made history in 2009 when they won this regional Gulf Cup for the first time. In 2017, Oman repeated the feat and won the Persian Gulf Cup for the second time.
Oman has made history again today when they qualified for the next stage of the AFC Asian Cup for the first time in this expanded 24 teams tournament.
CURRENT SQUAD
Quite a few of Oman players play abroad, the most famous of them is undoubtedly Ali Al Habsi. This ageing goalkeeper and legend of Oman football played in the English league with clubs such as Bolton, Wigan and Brighton. The 37 years old Al Habsi has 118 caps, but that has not convinced Pim Verbeek, the Dutch head coach of Oman to pick him up for the AFC Asian Cup 2019 to the dismay of many fans and critics. His replacement, Faiz Al-Rushaidi is quite a capable keeper in his own right.
There is no lack of experience in the squad though as the Veteran Ahmed Mubarak Al-Mahaijri is the Captain of the team, he has played for a plethora of professional clubs in UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Another veteran, Saad Al Mukhaini who plays professionally in Saudi League, is leading the defense line.
OMAN TACTICS AND STRONG POINTS
The team is always motivated and has a mental strength. They cannot match Team Melli in a physical game, but they defend in numbers and have a few solutions for counter attack, too. Ahmad Mubark is still running well despite his age and stamina seems to be quite strong among most of the players.
The worst scenario for Team Melli is if Oman scores first. They will park a double-decker to protect their lead and will resort to game delaying tactics, grass rolling and all sort of tricks to win a game especially against stronger and more skillful opponents such as Team Melli. They can also counter-attack well.
Tactically speaking, they might not be able to match Team Melli in the middle of the field and their forwards are inexperienced and lack accuracy in the final ball. Oman defense is also vulnerable in aerial balls. One major advantage Oman has is in the shape of a very experienced coach. Pim Verbeek who has coached South Korea, UAE , Australia and Morocco has a vast international experience and can turn a game around like we have seen him do in the last game against Turkmenistan.
FIFA RANKING
| Team | AFC Asian Rank | FIFA World Rank | Points |
 |
1 | 29 | 1481 |
 |
10 | 82 | 1295 |
The Match
IRAN vs. OMAN
AFC Asian Cup 2019 UAE
Round 16
20th January 2019
Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium , Abu Dhabi
Time: 20:00 Local Time (16:00 GMT)
Statistics
| H / A / N | Matches | W | D | L | Goals | + / – |
| H | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 9 – 2 | 7 |
| A | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 – 5 | -1 |
| N | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 11 – 9 | 3 |
| Total | 12 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 24 – 15 | 9 |
Matches List
| Date | Competition | H / A / N | Final score | Stadium |
| 29-Mar-16 | World Cup Qualifier | H | 2 – 0 | Azadi Stadium, Tehran |
| 08-Oct-15 | World Cup Qualifier | A | 1 – 1 | Sultan Qaboos Sport Complex – Muscat |
| 22-May-13 | Friendly International | A | 1 – 3 | Sultan Qaboos Sport Complex – Muscat |
| 28-Sep-10 | WAFF | N | 2 – 2 | King Abdulla Stadium – Amman |
| 24-Jul-04 | Asian Cup | N | 2 – 2 | Olympics Sport Centre , Chongqing |
| 08-Aug-01 | LG CUP | H | 5 – 2 | Azadi Stadium, Tehran |
| 08-Dec-98 | Asian Games / Group K | N | 2 – 4 | Suphachalasai Stadium , Bangkok |
| 21-Jun-96 | Asian Cup Qualifier | A | 2 – 1 | Sultan Qaboos Sport Complex – Muscat |
| 14-Jun-96 | Asian Cup Qualifier | H | 2 – 0 | Azadi Stadium, Tehran |
| 02-Jul-93 | World Cup Qualifier | N | 1 – 0 | Al Abbasyin Stadium, Damascus |
| 23-Jun-93 | World Cup Qualifier | H | 0 – 0 | Azadi Stadium, Tehran |
| 21-Feb-82 | Qaed-Ul-Azam Cup | N | 4 – 0 | Karachi |