Bahrain down the Azkals

After losing the earlier fixture against the Philippines, Bahrain got revenge over the Philippine Azkals, 2-0, on the home turf in the World Cup Qualifying fixture today at the Bahrain National Stadium in Riffa.

This helped the national team move to within a point of its beaten opponent last night in a Group H of the FIFA World Cup 2018/AFC Asian Cup 2019 joint-qualifiers at the National Stadium in Riffa.

Bahrain started with goalkeeper Mohammed Jaffar Sayed, defenders captain Hussain Ali Baba, Abdulla Al Hazaa, Sayed Mohammed Adnan, Mohammed Adel Hassan, Rashid Al Hooti, midfielders Sayed Dhiya Shubbar, Abdulla Yasser, Isa Moosa and strikers Sami Al Hussaini and Ismail Abdul Latif.

Coming off an encouraging 0-0 draw against North Korea, Philippines started the first half as the brighter of the two sides. Phil Younghusband had chances in both the early and late parts of the first half, but failed to convert either.

The Bahrain side coached by Argentine Sergio Batista broke the deadlock in the 53rd minute through veteran striker Ismail Abdul Latif who has been a fixture in the side since 2005. In the 61st minute, defender Sayed Mohammed Adnan doubled the lead and also made it two goals in the qualifying matches so far.

The Azkals threw everything forward, but the Bahrain defense remained strong as they rode off the storm. This defeat sees the Philippines concede their second loss in their World Cup Qualifying group, making it increasingly difficult for them to qualify for the next round.

Bahrain will be happy with the win, but they have an uphill struggle to even reach second place as runaway group leaders North Korea defeated Yemen 1-0 at Kim Il Sung Stadium in Pyongyang with a goal by= 2010 AFC Youth Player of the Year Jong Il-gwan, who struck in the 19th minute with a penalty.

As it stands, North Korea lead with 13 points from five games, followed by Uzbekistan (4-9), Philippines (5-7), Bahrain (5-6) and Yemen (5-0).

The Bahrainis have a very tough finish to the campaign with a trip to North Korea on November 17, then a relatively easy match (on paper) at home to Yemen on March 24 next year and and finish off with a concluding match in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on March 29.

The group winners and four best runners-up (total 12 teams) will advance to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup finals and the final round of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The next best 24 teams from the preliminary stage of the joint qualifiers will compete in a separate competition for the remaining slots (12 slots or 11 slots + 1 slot for the host) in the 24-team 2019 Asian Cup.