Quick nod to the Liverpool supporters club in Muscat

Congrats to Adam and his band of supporters over on the facebook group Muscat Reds which has just crossed the milestone 1000 likes.

The Muscat reds meet for most Liverpool games in the Liverpool annex at the hugely popular Habana sports bar over at the Grand Hyatt, they get to watch the games in HD on huge flat screens, but more importantly for them, and those who are not Liverpool fans, they can be clearly identified as Liverpool fans and thus suitably avoided ;)

It's always nice to enjoy something in the company of others who enjoy the same thing as you, so if you are into Liverpool and living in Muscat... check out the Muscat Reds facebook page, or wonder down to Habana and watch a match with other like minded fanatics fans.

le fin.

Oman draw with Australia 0-0

The nipple-gripple tackle was a team favourite

Yesterday afternoon at 5pm, the Australian Socceroos played Oman in what was expected to be an easy-win for Australia, in Oman's 2nd 2014 World Cup qualifying match. Yet Oman managed to hold off get the draw and a precious 1 point, which I'd say is quite a result - the top 2 in the group go through to the World Cup, the 3rd position in the group gets another shot, by playing a play-off game with a South American team later on to determine if they get into the World Cup or not. The group that Oman is in has these countries (I got it from Wikipedia):

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Japan	2	2	0	0	9	0	+9	6
Iraq	1	0	1	0	1	1	0	1
Australia	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
Oman	2	0	1	1	0	3	−3	1
Jordan	2	0	1	1	1	7	−6	1

Oman's next game is against Iraq on Tuesday, who drew 1-1 with Jordan in their first game. Jordan lost 6-0 against Japan yesterday, whereas Oman lost 3-0 against Japan, so with that spin on things, Oman might fancy their chances against both Iraq and Jordan.

Whilst we're talking about football, today is the second day of the Euro's, with The Netherlands playing Denmark at 8pm and Germany against Portugal at 10:45pm. Yesterday's opening matches were a draw 1-1 between Poland & Greece, and a victory for Russa 4-1 against the Czech Republic.

Also today there is some rugby on:

New Zealand v Ireland, 11:35

Australia v Wales, 14:05

South Africa v England, 19:00

Argentina v Italy, 22:40

I wonder how badly the Saffers will beat England by tonight?!

Oman Football tickets winners

Well this coming Friday will see Oman at home to the Socceroos at the Bowsher sports stadium with a kick off time of 5pm. Tickets are still on sale should you wish to attend the game, as is the new kit too.

So no more delays! The winners are:

Ali Al Lawati - 1 pair
"ZK" - 1 pair

They have both won a pair of tickets each - thank you to everyone who entered, better luck next time!

le fin.

Oman 1 - Lebanon 1, and trucks

Well Oman managed to draw against Lebanon last night in their friendly. Considering that Oman are 92 in the world rankings, and Lebanon are currently 129 in the world rankings, I wonder if the Oman team were perhaps a little disappointed with the result.


On Friday morning I went for a walk before it got too hot and came across a couple of trucks parked in a wadi and smiled and thought to myself that only in a place like this would someone leave a fuel (petrol) tanker unattended overnight. Could you imagine that in countries where petrol is so much more expensive? It'd have been tapped for sure! I apologize for the pictures, I'm not having any luck with getting them orientated the right way today.


I was not really surprised, but still fairly shocked to see the state of the tires of both the trailer and the truck that was pulling the gas tanker.

This was the front tire for the truck pulling the trailer

!!!!!!

Al Maha - do a better job

The offending truck!

So in this recent push by the ROP to curb traffic accidents, one would hope that national companies as large as Al Maha would be doing their corporate diligence bit to ensure that their own trucks are not driving on dangerously worn tires and contributing to the many-hundreds of tire-blow-outs every month here. Especially now the hot months have arrived, and blow-outs happen even more frequently. Now it's a bit unfair to single out Al Maha for this, because I've seen bald tires on so many trucks and pick-ups it really does make me shudder. Next time you are at a red light with a truck nearby... just take a look at the quality of the tread on the tires - I'm sure more often that not the tires are not fit for purpose.

Just another day on the roads here hey.

le fin.

Oman V Lebanon tonight, and the Eurovision results

Just a quick reminder that tonight Oman play Lebanon in the SQ sports complex in Bowsher - Kick Off is at 5pm and it is a free-entry game. Rumour has it that the much talked about new kit will be on display and even available for purchase.

Also, last night was the annual embarrassment for the United Kingdom, with yet another Eurovision song contest. Quite why it is still referred to as a contest is beyond me, as it's clearly a popularity contest these days. This year it was hosted in the very European country of.... Azerbaijan in the capital there, Baku. Sweden took first place, and Norway came last, with the UK hot on it's heels contesting for the last-place spot.

I wonder if we'll ever see Oman entering the Eurovision song contest in future years?

le fin.

Oman V Australia - win free tickets!

The nice people at the Oman Football Association have given me 2 pairs of reserved seating tickets to give away for the Oman V Australia game on the 8th of June at 5pm at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Ghubra/Bowsher. The tickets are worth RO 15 each, and I have 2 pairs to give away, a total value of RO 60. This will be the last time to see Oman playing at home until the fall, when they will be taking on Jordan :)


The OFA in recent years seem to have been improving soccer here in the Sultanate, most notably with Oman's trip to the Olympic qualifiers in the UK earlier this year, and also making it through the qualifying rounds for the World Cup. In fact the OFA have setup a special World Cup mini-site here and their Facebook group is pretty popular too.

Also here the games appear to be better set up to be entertaining, with more food and drink stalls available (can anyone remember the days when you couldn't get any water, nor bring it in with you)? So it really does seem like things are improving.

As it happens, this Sunday Oman are playing Lebanon also at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex with the KO being at 6pm and tickets are free - not bad at all!

All you have to do to be in the running for the free tickets to see Oman V Australia is either leave a comment here, or drop me an email on mrsythe [at] gmail [dot] com. Remember - if you leave a comment here, be sure to leave a way for me to contact you should you win!
Bon chance!

le fin.

Oman V Australia, and Swiss week @ the Hyatt

Three things today!

Oman are playing Australia next month at the Sultan Qaboos stadium - June 8th. Tickets are reportedly on sale now at the Shell gas station in Sarooj, starting at just 2 RO. General seating: 2 RO and VIP: 10, 15, 25 & 35 RO.

I imagine the game will be well-attended. The last time Oman and the Socceroos met, Oman snuck a goal in and won 1-0, so I'm sure the aussies will be keen to get even this time. The game is a qualifier for the World Cup in Brazil

Check out the Oman National Football Team's facebook page for more information in the coming days.

On Sunday I went with Mrs Sythe to check out the Swiss week thing being held at the Mokha Cafe in the Hyatt all week until this Sunday (May 13th). It costs RO 17 and you get to try out a whole host of Swiss dishes. I honestly thought there was only holy cheese and toblerones, but I was surprised to see there were a bunch of other things on the menu too, but I do have to say the Tobelerone chocolate fountain and mousses were pretty awesome.

I enjoyed the Tobelerone chocolate fountain a great deal!

There was some live music and entertainment at the venue as well, with all manner of musical instruments: Alphorns, accordions, spoons, saws(!), cow bells and earthenware bowls with coins rolling around in them. All in all we had a great time and if you're looking for something different to do for dinner (or brunch on the weekend for that matter) - it was fun.

Finally, a nice spot by local twitter person, @terencephoto spied a new marketing initiative by Nawras, which apparently promotes online piracy:

heh

Well I guess Oman better watch out or it will join Canada (those naughty Canadians) and make it onto the USA's online-naughty list that they publish every year: The Special 301 Watchlist prepared by the Office of the US Trade Representative. I'd like to point out that my Omantel ADSL is RO 35 a month for a 12MB line (which lets me download at around 1400 KB/sec) and is unlimited in data traffic. Just saying.

le fin.

Oman V Senegal tonight

As we approach the 2012 Olympic games in the UK, Oman has one final hurdle too pass to make it to the Olympic finals for soccer football. The Oman national football U23 team are currently in the UK getting ready to face Senegal U23 team tonight.

At 10:45pm tonight, Oman time, in the City of Coventry stadium the game starts, and it's being shown on Oman TV2.

More tomorrow, a new Radio Wars post :)

le fin.

Liverpool FC Fan Club @ the Habana Sports Bar

Those of you who like over-paid actors soccer, and in particular Liverpool, may be excited to discover that tonight the new Anfield Road lounge is launching in partnership with the Grand Hyatt and Standard Chartered. At 7pm, Liverpool kick off against Wigan, and you can win some cool Liverpool bits and pieces, signed by 80's super-icon Ian Rush (owner of an impressive 'tash as well).

But wait, there is more - to get a free drink, all you have to do is "like" the Standard Chartered Oman facebook page et voila, the very kind people at the Habana will furnish you with a free drink. Not too shabby, free is, after all, my favorite price!

Have a good week everyone!

le fin.

Busy month

It's been a busy time for me lately, and so this little hobby of mine has had to take a back seat for a while. Trying to post a blog every work-day was fast becoming a chore instead of a pleasure, and so I've take a week out from it, and who knows, perhaps I'll take more time out too.

Tonight see's the second round of the 6 Nations rugby tournament, with England playing Italy at 8pm local time tonight, and then the French take on Ireland at midnight. Both games are supposed to be on Al Jazeera Sports +3, but who knows if they actually will be on. Last Sunday's match between Ireland and Wales was binned in favour of showing a football match that they were showing on another channel already. Morons. To add insult to injury, the football match shown was a goalless draw!

Well, Jazeera Sports permitting, the Muscat Rugby Club's adopted bar, Habana at the Grand Hyatt (its the bar underneath Safari Bar) will be showing all of the games live on a lot of large flat screen TV's dotted around the bar - they even have a tv built into the beer pumps at the bar so when ordering a drink you don't miss anything!

For those of you that are interested, there is the imaginatively named Carlsberger deal - a pint of Carlsberg and a burger for RO 5.5

Staying with sport for a while longer, Oman National Football team has 4 home games this month:

Oman vs Wigan Athletic - 17 Feb - HOME - (Friendly)
Oman vs S. Korea - 22 Feb - HOME - (Qualifier)
Oman vs India - 23 Feb - HOME - (Friendly)
Oman vs Thailand - 29 Feb - HOME - (Qualifier)

So if you like football, you'll have something to watch live here! There is an active facebook page for the team, with lots of special prizes on offer - so go check it out. Most games are free for standard entry and VIP tickets can be purchased for RO 50.

More sometime soon, I recently went to the Millennium resort up in Mussanah, and was very pleasantly surprised.... I'll write about it soon!

le fin.

Oman take on the Democratic Republic of Congo tonight

An Omani footballer :)

Tonight, Oman FC take on the Democratic Republic of Congo at the Sultan Qaboos stadium in Bowsher / Ghubra - whatever they call that area. The game kicks off at 6:30pm, so I imagine you should expect lots of traffic this afternoon, and later on tonight, around the stadium.

Muscat Daily's Divesh Bhal reports today that Paul Le Guen (Oman's head coach) has had to field a weakened side against Congo as a first choice Striker (Hassan Rabee'a) and Defender (Mohammed al Musalmi) have both been ruled out due to injuries. So perhaps there will be lots of disappointed fans tonight,  I hope al Plod will be prepared for any disgruntled fans should the local lads be defeated. Best of luck to them though!

In similar news, Arsenal have handed a trial to Oman international Saad al-Mukhaini. The 24-year-old left-back, who plays for Omani top-flight side Fanja SC and has earned 23 caps for his country since making his debut in 2009, is expected to arrive in North London later this week ahead of a two-day trial.

More soon.

le fin.

Well done Oman, and how it's "not too bad" to drunk drive & kill people.

Firstly,

Congratulations to Oman for beating China in the London 2012 Olympic football qualifier preliminary round 2 in Shanghai last night. Hussain Al Hadhri slotted a goal in the first 3 minutes and then Oman held out for the full length of the game, shutting out the Chinese 1-0. There's nothing quite like winning against the odds away! China will be playing Oman here in the second leg game on the 23rd June. The game will be played at the Sultan Qaboos sports complex in Bousher As Seeb sports stadium, and I do not know anything about ticketing, it'll probably be free. If you do know anything about ticketing, please let us all know!

A nod to the boys up in the UAE as well, who also flicked some dirt in the eye of North Korea and beat them 1-0 as well. And the Saudi's beat Vietnam in a 2-0 victory too. Qatar dominated India in a 3-1 victory. No such luck for Kuwait, Yemen or Bahrain though, who lost their games. You can see all the schedules and results for the 2012 Asian team qualifiers by clicking here.

Next.

In today's edition of Muscat Daily, there was actually some local news! Top marks! The particular story I wanted to write about today is on page 3 at the top and you can read it online here. A man (not identified as to where he's from) was sentenced to 1 year in jail recently it is reported. But here's the reason I'm blogging about it: This man, who had 236mg of alcohol in his blood - the equivalent of about 8 pints of beer lost control of his car, hit another car, and then ran over a pedestrian, killing him.

So, in summary. He was shitfaced, crashed his car and took someones life. And all he got is 1 year in jail? What the hell? That is hardly a strong deterrent nor the right kind of message I'd of thought the authorities want to be sending out. The sentence seems unbelievably light for murder! I think that's outrageous, what do you think?

And finally, as reported on the blog on Monday last week, it has been confirmed that Borders has closed down in MCC. However, the Qurum branch is apparently set to stay open with no plans to close it as confirmed by Manoj Kanjari, the operations manager of Borders Oman.

le fin.

Well now thats all over, how about some football?

Well, now that things appear to have settled down up the road in Sohar, and the "peace march" that occurred in Ghubra yesterday has been done, it's time to look at something else for a moment.

Rather unfortunately for Oman, the Sohar event took the spotlight away from FIFA's beach football worldcup Asia qualifier round which is taking place up in Mussanah's infamous sports village this week. On Monday night, the Oman side thumped Iraq 11-3 and have now gone through the quarter finals, and will be facing Syria today (this afternoon at 5pm).

The semi finals will be on Thursday, and the Finals on Friday afternoon from 3:45pm. You can get all the information here on www.beachsoccer.com.

 So why not spend the weekend watching a great game and cheering on Oman?

:)

Just for fun, and because I seem to have reported about other fast food joints opening previously... Hardees in Al Khoudh has opened.

Dont forget to enter into the prize draw for 2 free tickets to the 30 Seconds to Mars concert on March 10th.

More soon.

le fin.