Preview: Oman vs. Belarus - prediction, team news, lineups

Belarus will be bidding to make it successive victories when they take on Oman in a friendly on Sunday.

The visitors will enter the contest off the back of a 1-0 win over Syria on Thursday, while Oman took on Germany in a friendly on Wednesday, suffering a 1-0 loss to Hansi Flick's side.

Match preview

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Oman have never qualified for the finals of a World Cup, and they will not be present at the 2022 edition of the tournament, having finished fourth in Group B behind Saudi Arabia, Japan and Australia.

The national team had a record of four wins, two draws and four defeats from their 10 matches in the third round, but it left them on 14 points, one point behind third-place Australia.

Oman can certainly take encouragement from their performance during qualification, and they also showed plenty of positive signs in their friendly with Germany on Wednesday, only losing 1-0 to one of the best international sides in world football.

Branko Ivankovic's side have three more friendlies before the end of the year, facing Syria twice next month, while their next competitive fixture will be against Iraq in the Gulf Cup of Nations in January.

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Belarus, meanwhile, will enter this game off the back of a 1-0 victory over Syria on Thursday, with an own goal from Thaer Krouma deciding the contest in the 81st minute.

The White Wings have never qualified for the finals of a World Cup, and they will not be present at the 2022 competition in Qatar.

A difficult qualification campaign for the upcoming tournament saw Belarus pick up just three points from their eight matches, which left them bottom of Group E behind Belgium, Wales, Czech Republic and Estonia.

Georgy Kondratyev's side will play their final match of the year on Sunday before returning to competitive action next March, when their Euro 2024 qualification campaign begins at home to Switzerland.

Belarus will also face Andorra, Israel, Kosovo and Romania in what looks to be an open section, with the top two sides in the group advancing to the finals.

Team News

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Oman have not reported any injury concerns from their clash with Germany last time out, so it would not be a surprise to see the same XI take to the field for this contest.

Head coach Ivankovic, as he did against Germany, will make full use of his squad, but the likes of Issam Al-Sabhi and Harib Al-Saadi should be in the starting side.

Abdulaziz Al-Muqbali is the leading goalscorer in the squad with 30, and the 33-year-old is expected to be involved at some stage of the contest.

As for Belarus, there is plenty of experience in defence and midfield in the latest squad, but only two forwards have been named, and they have just eight caps and one goal between them.

Indeed, Uladzimir Khvashchynski has one goal in four appearances for the national side, while Yegor Bogomolsky is yet to find the back of the net in four appearances.

Yevgeny Yablonsky is actually the leading goalscorer in the squad with three, which is an indication of their problems in terms of finding the back of the net.

Oman possible starting lineup:

Al Mukhaini; Al Harthi, Al Habsi, Al Khamisi, Al Kaabi; Al Yahmadi, Al Saadi, Al Aghbari; Al Yahyaei; Al Alawi, Al Sabhi

Belarus possible starting lineup:

Plotnikov; Polyakov, Shevchenko, Volvov, Nechayev; Klimovich, Ebong, Bakhar, Bocherov; Khvashchynski, Bogomolsky

We say: Oman 1-0 Belarus

Oman more than held their own against Germany last time out, and they are certainly a team to be respected at this level of football. We are expecting Sunday's affair to be close but believe that Oman will have enough quality to secure a narrow victory over Belarus.

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