Bahrain eye World Cup spot

Manama : Hosts Bahrain hope to make history today and qualify for the prestigious 2017 FIFA U-20 World Football Cup finals as they take on surprise qualifiers Vietnam in the AFC U-19 Championship at 7.30pm in the National Stadium in Riffa.

In the other quarter final, Iraq takes on Saudi Arabia at 4.15pm in Khalifa Sports City in Isa Town.

Tomorrow, Japan play Tajikistan at 4.15pm in the National Stadium and Iran faces Uzbekistan at 7.30pm at Khalifa Sports City in Isa Town.

Coaches of the four teams involved in today’s action shared their thoughts at the pre-matches press conference held yesterday.

Bahrain coach Abdulaziz Abdo emphasized that they are facing a good team in Vietnam with good tactics and players.

“We have a few advantages as hosts of this tournament including the fact that we play in our own stadium and in front of our own fans, which gives the players extra motivation”, he said.

“We would like to make the fans, government and the Bahraini Football Association happy, so we need everybody to stand up and lend a hand to the team for the next match”.

Vietnam Coach Hoang Anh Tuan said: “The first time I spoke to everybody, I was happy to be one of the best 16 teams in Asia. Now, after qualifying from our group, we are proud to be one of the best eight teams in this tournament.”

“Our mentality will be key to our success. We looked back at Myanmar’s exploits at the last AFC U-19 Championship when they qualified for the U-20 World Cup and we took many, many lessons from their success,” added Hoang.

Saudi Arabia’s coach Saad Al Shehri noted that all of the teams who have qualified for the quarterfinals have good tactics and mentality and that’s why they are here.

“We started the group stage with an ascending rhythm and now we’re doing great,” said Al Shehri. 

“We are facing an Iraqi team who have a lot of young talent and many good players and we wish them good luck.”

Iraq coach Abbas Atiyah hopes his side can have plenty of luck to qualify for the World Cup in South Korea next year.