Bahrain’s Journey to Asian Cup begins

TDT | Manama                                                     

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s highly anticipated journey to the AFC Asian Cup begins today as the Kingdom’s senior men’s national football team depart for Dubai for their final training camp in the lead-up to the continental competition.

The tournament is scheduled to kick off on 12 January and continue until 10 February.

It will be played in Doha with 24 national teams from across Asia taking part.

The Bahraini delegation travelling to the Emirates before going to Qatar is headed by Bahrain Football Association (BFA) president Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Khalifa. The deputy head is His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Ali bin Isa Al Khalifa.

Team manager Rashed Al Zayani and head coach Juan Antonio Pizzi from Argentina are among the top officials for the Kingdom’s side, which also includes eight members of Pizzi’s technical staff, 11 others on the administrative and support staff, and 10 accompanying media members.

The BFA confirmed yesterday the national team’s official programme ahead of the AFC Asian Cup.

Following their arrival today in Dubai, the Bahrainis will get right to work and then play an international friendly match against continental powerhouses Australia on Saturday.

They then face African side Angola in an informal training match on 10 January, after which they depart for Doha the following day.

That will be just in time for the start of the tournament, in which Bahrain are in Group E for the preliminary round along with South Korea, Malaysia and Jordan. Pizzi has named 26 players on the final list for the Dubai camp and the AFC Asian Cup.

The players include goalkeepers Sayed Mohammed Jaafar, Ebrahim Luthfallah and Abdulkarim Al Fardan; defenders Amine Benadi, Sayed Mahdi Baqer, Waleed Al Hayyam, Ahmed Bughammar, Mohammed Adel, Hussain Al Aker and Abdulla Al Khalasi; midfielders Hazza Ali, Mohammed Abdulwahab, Moses Atede, Mohammed Hardan, Ebrahim Alwali, Mohammed Abdulqayoom, Jassim Al Shaikh, Jassim Khelaif, Mohammed Marhoon, Komail Al Aswad and Ebrahim Al Khattal; and forwards Ali Hassan Saeed, Ali Madan, Mahdi Humaidan, Abdulla Al Hashash and Abdulla Yusuf.

Kick off

The nationals kick off their campaign against the South Koreans on 15 January at 2.30pm, and then take on their Malaysian counterparts on 20 January at 5.30pm.

They complete the preliminaries against Jordan on 25 January at 2.30pm.

All times are Bahrain.

Bahrain need to finish amongst the top two in their group to automatically advance to the knockout stage, or be one of four of the best-ranked thirdplaced teams from the six pools.

Group A features hosts Qatar, China, Tajikistan and Lebanon.

Group B includes Australia, Uzbekistan, Syria and India. Group C is composed of Iran, the UAE, Hong Kong and Palestine.

Group D comprises Japan, Indonesia, Iraq and Vietnam.

And Group F features Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Kyrgyzstan and Oman.

Bahrain will be making their seventh appearance in the AFC Asian Cup, having qualified for the competition’s sixth straight edition.

Their first appearance came in 1988, and then also played in 2004, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019.

Their best finish to date was fourth overall in the 2004 tournament held in China.