The land of Sinbad - and a nail to coffin for the whole nation's hope... and Southeast Asia

When Thailand lost 1-3 to the UAE and 0-4 to Iraq away in the latest 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification, it was seen as a dent. Thailand was the only country from Southeast Asia to be there, though, to be frank, if you count member from the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF), you may also think of Australia, the country where I have some connection over, due to my relatives studied in Down Under and some of my neighbours were students in here.

But Australia and Thailand are totally two opposite polar. Australia has succeeded in establishing a name among Asia's mightiest, and a frequent World Cup participant since 2006, the year they joined the AFC. By contrast, Thailand has succeeded only in giving itself a supremacy in Southeast Asia - in fact, Thailand was, for a long time, the only Southeast Asian state to reach the final phase of World Cup qualifiers in Asia. Indonesia was the only World Cup participant there from Southeast Asia, though as a Dutch autonomous colony, it didn't play any qualifying matches for the 1938 edition, before falling 0-6 to Hungary in France.

Too much bitterness for failing to qualify put Thailand in an insane attempt trying to revamp itself and to regain the lost fortunes, but it has been unable to find out why Thailand, despite good forms in Southeast Asia and somewhat competitive in tournaments across Asia, have not managed to win a single game in the final phase of the WCQ.

I watched the whole campaign of the Thais at the time, and was a bit saddened to know that Thailand has never won a single game in the final phase. Thailand has come close to do this three times, against Bahrain in 2002 WCQ, and then to Australia and the UAE in 2018 WCQ, but it was thwarted by systemic mistakes. All of these happened in Thai soil.

Now... it is likely that Thailand will share the feeling of not being alone in these issues. Maybe in an even more precarious position.

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The game in Sharjah, where China, as the acting "host" due to restriction over COVID-19 quarantine, will set to return home in November for a crucial encounter against Oman, a league in turmoil and an ageing squad, can still manage to net on Vietnam three times compared to Vietnam's only two was a severe blow for many Vietnamese supporters, who have long desired to see China to lose to Vietnam for the first time ever. Instead, China has extended its invincible record toward Vietnam to eight, condemning Vietnam into the bottom of the group.

If you look to the UEFA and CAF qualifying stages, Vietnam shared this inglorious record with Madagascar, Mauritania, Djibouti, Lithuania, San Marino, Gibraltar, Togo and Angola - no point. To add the wound further, Vietnam was the only team from the AFC to not gain even a draw from the qualification, hence the comparison; there are two other teams with "zero" record, but they did not score a single goal though. This could be too much, but loss to a weakening China had led to widespread bombardment against Park Hang-seo, who was responsible for the team's loss - for his somewhat abnormal 4-4-2 tactics instead of a defensive-counter attacking formation, as well as the players' somewhat below average forms.

Unsurprisingly, when paying attention on Chinese media, Chinese netizens have been celebrating, if not to say enjoying in triumphant as China has now got the same amount of points with Oman and Japan, the latter is so far disappointing major powerhouse, already the Japanese suffered a blowing 0-1 away defeat to Saudi Arabia in Jeddah. Australia, meanwhile, creates history with a 11-win streak, a hard-fought 3-1 win in Doha over Oman. Not to say many Chinese have laughed on Vietnamese as "delusional" and to remind why China will always and eager to overpower Vietnam again.

In this group, already since September, only two national teams have not gotten the smell of home returns - Australia and China. Australia is, by far, in a crappy situation due to government colliding with Football Australia. The Green and Gold yet can still maintain domination despite somewhat an unfavourable manager with not so prestigious run was to prove too different, considering now Australian players can only represent in the highest leagues of medium-tier European countries - a clear sign of Australia's return to prominence among Asia's elites. China, meanwhile, is already a declining power with its results deteriorated recent years, and was struggling to recover from the loss.

Yet Vietnam's defeat to China has officially put the coffin into the side, and it is increasingly more threatening when Vietnam will have to travel to Muscat to face the very determined Omani side - who has already stunned Japan in Suita. Bottom-sit, no point, three goals, and now a lot of vulgar expressions against the national team for failing to fulfil fans' wills, could put many Vietnamese players into a greater pressure. For me, the performance like gambling of the Vietnamese side also shocked my soul to the point, I have vowed not to watch any competitive game of Vietnam again - as now the cause is lost. Me if you ask again? An effective boycott for such an utterly disgraced performance and you can give denigrate words for it.

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But let's stop talking about the 7 October encounter. Talking about Oman is something worth to know as they are going to be Vietnam's next opponent. Considering Vietnam has already lost three games in a row in this stage, Vietnam's best chance maybe only a point to gain away in Muscat, though this mission is not easy however, as Oman has proven to be a very naughty side.

But before the ball rolling out, we need to speak about Oman as a nation.

Oman is special because it is still an undiscovered gem of the restive Middle East. The country has a milder climate than that of their neighbours, with the country does have experience with monsoon seasons more often than the rest. With a cooler condition, Oman has one of the best natural appearances in the hot, desert landscape of the region.

The Omanis call the monsoon "khareef" in Arabic. The rainy season is exclusive in southwestern Oman, rain is more frequent and the region is filled with garden-like scenes that make it so attractive to tourists, mostly from the Gulf region. Each year, the southwestern region of the country, known as Dhofar region, welcomed one million visitors from the other countries, mostly belong to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members, where the people would enjoy the beauty of mother nature in Dhofari coast. Recently, it has welcomed more and more non-GCC travellers, though by far composed mostly from the other Arab entities.

Oman also offers a significant coastal line, long with warm water. Due to the milder climate of Oman, the country experiences more rainfalls than neighbours, often due to wind from the sea entering the Arabian peninsula throughout the country. This also welcomed people to enjoy the beaches of the Omani territory.

Yet in spite of the milder climate of the nation, its capital, Muscat, is dreadfully one of the world's driest cities. A reason for this unimaginable condition was due to Oman's Arabian desert spreading the heat with an unthinkable wave of hot and humid winds. Moreover, the flow of sea waves also move away when reaching to the Omani coast, preventing the necessary rains from arriving to the capital. Sea waves, a vital reason of Oman's monsoon, has greater impacts in Dhofar than with the rest of the country. Still, the capital does have monsoon, in its own way, due to wet currents blowing towards the Asian continent, happened in summer.

A notable part of Omani culture is the country's very unique Islamic principles: Ibadism. Historically, the Ibadis traced its origin from the Khawarij, an Islamic movement that dated from the early days of Islam in the 7th century, its followers were colloquially known as Kharjites. They disagreed with Prophet Muhammad's successor Ali and murdered him in the Battle of Kufa in January 661 AD. His death triggered the revenge among some Muslims, though not until the death of Husayn that inflamed the war between two Islamic sects today.

The murder of Ali by the Kharjites led to unrest and criticism against the sect for its violence alignment. Two inner groups emerged to challenge the orthodox: Suffriya and Ibadiyya, the latter would go on to survive and become the dominant Islamic school of Oman. The success of Ibadi sect came after a prolonged struggle to establish the Ibadi order across the country. There are also surviving members of this sect in North Africa.

The Ibadis prefer to be clean, truly, to the point that they need to convert home and clothes into white colour. Omani food is also very typical, it is modest with rice, meat, vegetables and curry most to represent for you. Ibn Battuta, the Moroccan adventurer in medieval Muslim world, mentioned about Omani home decoration and social organisation, whom he praised as the finest, modest and well-opening Muslim societies. Ibadis believe making themselves white from clothing to social living will bring them closer to God.

But nothing is more comparable to the famous fairy tale of Sinbad the Sailor, whose origin is thought to be from this country. People remain disputed over where in the Arab world that Sinbad got inspired, but it was written under the Abbassid Caliphate, so historians likely agreed that it was drawn from a place where sea industry was quite prosperous. Oman turned out to be that destination - the country was renowned for the shipping industry since the Muslim conquest, with sailors from Arab world starting their searches for new markets from Omani coastline. Traditions say that the mythical sailor was from the city of Sur, renowned for the appearance of many high-profile sailors in the past.

Dhow - a typical Arab vessel - boasted its line from no where than Oman. Legends say the Omanis, alongside its Yemeni neighbours, have some of the best Dhow makers in the world. It reflects the long-standing Omani culture of sailing. Sinbad and the Seven Seas remains a pride and a source of aspiration of exploration for many Omanis - with Sinbad using the Dhow to sail through the waves of storms. With the same Dhows, the Omanis succeeded in expanding their empire, and even fought off the Portuguese.

In modern Oman, traditions stay, but she is under rapid transformation to integrate with the modern economy. Since the accession of Qaboos as Sultan of Oman in 1970, overthrowing his father, Qaboos embraced massive economic and social reforms to improve the living standard of Omani population, by then among one of the world's worst. 40 years after Qaboos' reign, Oman achieved a significant improvement of economic standard, which is quite... ironic. Well, partly because Oman is part of the GCC, so it does have large oil field, even though it is modest compared to the far richer neighbours. The irony is, Oman shares a common border with Yemen in the west, and Yemen is being embroiled in a bloody war and impoverishment - Yemen is already the poorest in the world, leave alone the Arab bedfellows.

Having an unstable neighbour is not a rare issue in the Middle East, but why Oman is so safe? We can also appreciate Qaboos for his benevolent authoritarianism. Qaboos presided over a ton of regional conflicts, even going as far as facilitating peace talks between Iran and the United States, resulting in the nuclear deal that was later torn down by Donald Trump. Qaboos embraced a policy of peace-making, to ensure stability. Even during the 2011 Arab Spring, Omanis protest to improve living standard rather than toppling governments like other Arabs. Moreover, Qaboos was a strong advocator against slavery, already abolished it by 1970.

Qaboos was also an unique person: he financed a number of churches and Hindu temples, much to the respect from the other non-Muslim population. He was also a passionate lover to classical music.

Qaboos left this world on 10 January 2020, and was mourned by everyone, regardless of affiliation.

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There, we come remembering the national team of Oman. The team that has stunned Japan, was previously never considered to be an emerging power until the beginning of the new millennia. Indeed, up until the next century, Omani football has been historically not so successful, the team didn't gain any fame and even struggled to cope with the achievements of neighbours. The Omanis, though, have a different mindset that set them away from the rest of the Gulf: willingness to go and study.

Most of the monarchies in the Middle East when it comes to football are highly conservative, true to their governing natures. But not all of them, sure: two examples are Jordan and Oman, with Oman being to the detail.

If you used to watch the English Premier League during 2000s, you shall remember to one Omani footballer, the guardian Ali Al-Habsi. He was the first Omani footballer to play in the EPL, for the club Bolton, before moving to Wigan in 2011 and became the wall of the club for over six years. Al-Habsi is a very modest person: he was a fireman in Oman's Muscat International Airport, but later gave up the job to focus on his football career. He retired at the age of 39 in 2020, ending a glorious career of the Gulf's first great EPL player.

For Oman, Ali Al-Habsi remains the biggest inspiration for many Omanis, and a cause that forced Oman to be different from the neighbours.

Today, Oman no longer has Al-Habsi, but it has a cohesive team. The thing is, Oman has become better than it used to be without Al-Habsi: it has qualified for the round of sixteen for the first time ever in the Asian Cup history, previously eliminated in the group stage thrice.

Given how Oman put Japan to a shock loss and forced Saudi and Australian players sweating, chance for Vietnam in a game like this, having been severely hampered by a devastating 2-3 defeat to China for a second half injury time Wu Lei's goal, is nearly zero. Only 1% would state Vietnam to have any chance to beat Oman. Not to say this will occur in Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, the home stadium of the Omanis in Muscat. Branko Ivanković was about to think of a positive result

Previously, Vietnam did face Oman in the past, it happened back in 2004 Asian Cup qualifiers, and all ended with Oman prevailing, two wins. These wins, coupled with Oman's historic 3-1 triumph over South Korea as well, put Oman a historic ticket to the 2004 AFC Asian Cup as the group leader, being Oman's maiden appearance in any major competition.

This time, there is a big doubt on Vietnam's hope to qualify after being the only team in this AFC contention final round to be pointless. This fixture is likely the same...