Ireland vs Oman: Match Preview and Prediction

By

 Stefan Altenbach

Republic of Ireland vs Oman
International Friendly.
Date: Wednesday; 31-August-2016
Kick-off: 19:45 UK
Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin.

Ireland had moderate success at the Euro 2016 after making it to the round of 16, where they bow out to the hosts France. The road till them was never easy for Ireland as they were in a tough group which included a strong Belgium and European powerhouse Italy. With nothing much changed since the Euros, a similar looking Republic of Ireland football team under Martin O’Neil prepare for the 2018 FIFA World Cup campaign with an international friendly match against Oman.

Oman on the other hand are eliminated from the World Cup qualifiers after finishing second in their group during the second round of the qualification phase. They also had a disappointing Asia Cup in 2015 as they failed to reach the knock-out stages. Ramon Lopez Caro is in charge of the team since January 2016 and his prime focus will be to prepare a team capable of qualifying for the 2019 AFC Asia cup scheduled to be held in UAE.

Ireland vs Oman: Head-to-Head

Republic of Ireland had met Oman in two friendlies since 2012 and won in both of them. The latest was on September 2014 at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin which ended in a 2-0 win for the Irish team. The previous meeting was at Craven Cottage in London, which saw a 4-1 win for the Ireland.

Ireland vs Oman: Predictions

Martin O’Neill has assembled a familiar squad for the friendly against Oman and the World Cup qualification fixture against Serbia. The team has plenty of experience and are more close to English Championship quality.

However, they are not a team in best of their forms at the moment. They have the ability to surprise big teams, but they are struggling to find any form of consistency in recent times. They will be coming into this match on the back of a three match win-less run at home with 2 draws and a loss. Also they have won just once in their last 7 matches in all competitions.

But a team like Oman who have won just 2 of their last 14 matches provides a good opportunity to boost the morale ahead of the qualification campaign.

Oman have also failed to score in four of their last six away games and normally struggle against teams of higher quality. So I will be also backing my correct score prediction of a 2-0 win in favour of the Green Army.