Sousa stresses Bahrain’s need for a win today

National football team head coach Helio Sousa stressed yesterday that Bahrain need to win their match against Saudi Arabia tonight in Group B of the 24th Arabian Gulf Cup in Doha. Sousa said in his pre-match Press conference that he expects a tough match against “one of the biggest teams in Asia”, as they fight to keep alive their hopes for a place in the tournament’s semi-finals.

The Bahrainis played to a goalless draw in their first game against defending champions Oman, while the Saudis bowed to Kuwait 1-3 n their opening fixture. “We are here to win the next game,” Sousa said. “We couldn’t do it in our first game against Oman; we had a chance to do it but we faced a great team who had a great game too. “We are here to try and win now against Saudi. We are doing all we can to be in the next phase. We need to win tomorrow; we want to win.”

Sousa said that despite Saudi’s loss against Kuwait, they remain a dangerous and talented squad and Bahrain have no room to be complacent. “It will always be difficult playing against Saudi,” he explained. “All the players on their team play in the Saudi league, which is one of the strongest ones in Middle East and in Asia. One of the strongest championships gives the possibility of players to keep growing up during the season. That can put the Saudis as one of the biggest teams in Asia. “But for sure both of us feel the pressure to get points from this game tomorrow.

They lost in their first game but they performed well. They were not so strong at one point and suffering two goals at the half is never easy. For sure, they have the pressure to win against us and get the three points. That can put our game at a high level.” Sousa added that he believes Bahrain can step up to the challenge and continue to build on their performance against Oman, even after having dropped points. “What we got from that game was one point; we had a chance to get three but Oman also played well,” Sousa explained.

“We are very happy with our players. Some of them haven’t played for us since August, but now they have the opportunity and against Oman they performed very well. “They keep getting our ideas, keep training very well, and they had a chance to give their best and they did that. We are very happy with that situation; and for sure we wanted the three points, but we couldn’t get it against Oman and we will try again tomorrow against Saudi, knowing that it will be very very difficult. “We just have to focus on us, be more aggressive, and shoot more to the goal. We are having good possession of the ball but we must have more capacity to shoot at the goal.

“For sure it will be a good game for the fans and one more very good experience for our players too.” Tonight’s match is scheduled for an 8pm kick-off at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium in Doha. It will follow the match between Kuwait and Oman, which will begin at 5.30pm at the same venue. The Bahrainis trained last night for the contest under the Bahrain players during training last night supervision of Sousa