Oman Coach Immediately Fired After Failing To Take The Team To The Last 16 Of The 2023 Asian Cup

Coach Oman Branko Ivankovic failed to meet the winning target in the group's last match against Kyrgyzstan (Instagram/@omanfa).

JAKARTA - The bitter fact must be accepted by Oman coach, Branko Ivankovic, after escorting the team to appear in the last match of Group F of the 2023 Asian Cup. Unsatisfactory results made Oman immediately decided to cooperate with the coach.

Oman appeared against Kyrgyzstan at the Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium on Thursday, January 25, 2024, WIB night. In the group's last match, Oman is targeted to be able to get the perfect points to qualify for the last 16 of the 2023 Asian Cup through the best third-placed line.

However, Oman failed to pick up three points because the match ended in the 1-1 draw. These results made them fail to displace the Indonesian national team from the fourth position or the final knockout phase in the best third place.

Oman ended the group stage in third place in Group F with a collection of two points and only perched on the fifth ladder of the best third place.

After being confirmed to have failed to qualify for the last 16, the Oman Football Association (OFA) immediately decided on the fate of the coach. OFA agreed to fire Branko Ivankovic from the national team coach position.

"OFA sacked national team coach Branko Ivankovic after the team was eliminated from the 2023 Asian Cup in Doha, on Thursday (25/1/2024)," wrote The Arabian Stories on Friday, January 26, 2024.

"Oman performed poorly throughout the 2023 Asian Cup tournament after losing to Saudi Arabia in the opening match, followed by a goalless draw against Thailand. On Thursday, Oman drew 1-1 and was eliminated from the tournament," continued The Arabian Stories.

The Croatian coach has handled Oman since 2020. Under his touch, Oman won a historic victory over Japan with a score of 1-0 in the third round of the 2022 World Cup Qualifiers, September 2, 2021.

This success brought Ivankovic to a contract extension from Oman until 2024. However, now Ivankovic's contract has been terminated after Oman was eliminated from the 2023 Asian Cup.