Oman sack Ribas
Oman have axed their Uruguayan manager after just three competitive matches.
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| Oman will begin the search for a new coach [GALLO/GETTY] |
Oman have sacked Uruguayan coach Julio Cesar Ribas after only three competitive matches following his team’s 3-0 World Cup qualifying defeat by Japan.
Ribas was shown the door after only four months in charge and becomes Oman’s fourth coaching casualty in just over two years.
Local coach Hamad Al Azani, who has served as caretaker before, will lead the team in their remaining three qualifiers.
Taha Al Kishry, secretary-general of the country’s soccer federation, told the Oman Observer that Ribas’s sacking was “in the larger interests of the national team following the disappointing performance”.
Oman, who have never reached the World Cup, had promised Ribas and his coaching staff “handsome rewards” if they steered the Gulf side to the 2010 finals.
However, their chances of advancing to the next qualifying stage are slim after losing two of their three matches so far.
Ribas replaced Gabriel Calderon, a losing finalist with Argentina at the 1990 World Cup, who was fired after Oman finished bottom of their group at the last year’s Asian Cup.