NATIONAL women's coach Nasihin Nubli hopes his team will be able to play China in a friendly before the Asia Cup in Muscat, Oman on Jan 21-28.
The team arrived in Muscat yesterday and will begin their Group A campaign against India on Saturday.
The other teams in the group are Japan and Singapore, while China, South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia make up Group B.
The semi-finallists will qualify for the World Cup, jointly hosted by Spain and the Netherlands, on July 1-17.
The national team had initially arranged a friendly against South Korea, but their rivals decided not to go ahead with it.
"We were supposed to play Korea in a friendly, but they had a change of plan. We hope to play two warm-up matches here," said Nasihin in Muscat yesterday.
"We are talking to China for a friendly game.
"Overall, the facilities here are good. It will help with my players' recovery after training and matches."
The tournament will be played in a sports bubble, and players are only allowed to travel from their hotels to the venue for training and matches.
"We are not required to quarantine here, so we have started training at the venue," he added.
