Oman v Turkmenistan: Verbeek tells players to 'score as many as possible'

Pim Verbeek's Oman will be in a good position to qualify for the Asian Cup's knockout phase in third if it beats Turkmenistan.

Oman coach Pim Verbeek's men head into their final Group F outing having lost their first two games.

Oman boss Pim Verbeek has urged his team to score "as many as possible" against Turkmenistan as it desperately bids to qualify for the 2019 Asian Cup knockout phase as one of the four best third-placed finishers.

Verbeek's men head into their final Group F outing having lost their first two games, however their goal difference is only minus 2, meaning they stand a good chance of progressing if they manage to beat Turkmenistan.

Its opponent finds itself in a similar situation, though it goes into Thursday's game with a goal difference of minus five after getting hammered 4-0 by Uzbekistan last time out.

The opportunity to qualify despite losing two games is not one Verbeek wants to pass up, and he is putting the pressure on his men to go out and get goals.

"We have to win," the Dutchman told reporters. "We know [negative] one goal difference might be enough. We will do everything to score as many as possible. We have 90 minutes, but it will be better to score early.

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"All the players are ready. We have no red cards or injuries. We have to make all efforts to make it a good game. We cannot commit mistakes. We have to keep a clean sheet."

Considering the state of the group, Verbeek is fully expecting Turkmenistan to come out ready for a scrap.

The Uzbekistan defeat will have been poor for morale and, as such, it leaves the side effectively needing to trounce Oman to stand any chance of qualification.

Verbeek felt Turkmenistan actually put in a good display against Uzbekistan, but he is confident in his plan.

"Turkmenistan competed well against Uzbekistan and they will come hard at us," he added. "They were unlucky in the first half as Uzbekistan scored four goals. We have a plan and strategy, but everyone will have to wait till the game to see that."

Turkmenistan boss Yazguly Hojageldyyew said: "We understand that the Oman team is a very good team, but there's still a chance for both teams to qualify. We understand that the previous game was a bad result and we had some mistakes, but we already made some conclusions, we talked to the team and they are confident."