Bahrain to kick off training for 2021 matches

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain head coach Helio Sousa named yesterday a squad of 33 players who will participate in senior men’s national team training later this month.

The sessions will be held locally between February 20 and 27 as part of the Bahrainis’ preparations for their international fixtures in the coming months.

It will be the first gathering of the national team in 2021.

Their last training sessions took place in an overseas camp last November in Dubai, where they played several international friendly matches.

The players selected are from six clubs in the Nasser bin Hamad Bahrain Premier Football League and from second division side Alkhaldiya.

Bahrain was supposed to take to the pitch next month against Cambodia in one of their remaining joint-qualifying matches for the FIFA World Cup 2022 and AFC Asian Cup 2023, but that game has been postponed to June, according to a national team official.

The official added that that fixture will likely take place along with Bahrain’s two other remaining qualifiers in a centralised venue.

As reported earlier by TDT and confirmed yesterday by the official, Bahrain is one of the locations being considered for the matches.

Iran and Iraq’s Basra City are the others in contention.

Roster Sousa’s list of players for their local training includes 12 from current league leaders Riffa, namely Ahmed Abdulla, Ali Haram, Ali Madan, Hamad Shamsan, Sayed Hashim Isa, Hazza Ali, Jassim Al Shaikh, Mahdi Humaidan, Mohamed Marhoon, Sayed Redha Isa, Sayed Mahdi Baqer and Sayer Shubar Alawi. There are also five players each from Manama and Muharraq. The Manama players are Ahmed Nabeel, Ammar Mohamed, Issa Moosa, Mahdi Abduljabbar and Mohamed Adel; while the Muharraq players include Abdulrahman Alahmadi, Abdulwahab Al Malood, Ismaeel Abdullatif, Waleed Al Hayam, and Sayed Mohammed Jaafar.

The rest of the squad features Abdulla Alhazza, Hamad Al Dossary, Mohamed Alhardan and Mohammed Al Rumaihi from East Riffa; Ahmed Bughammar, Ahmed Mirza and Mohammed Abdulwahab from defending league champions Hidd; Abdulla Alkaabi, Abdulrahman Yusuf and Rashed Alhooti from Al Najma; and Ebrahim Lutfallah from Alkhaldiya. Bahrain is in Group C of the current joint-qualifiers alongside Iraq, Iran, Hong Kong and Cambodia.

They have three games to play, including that against the Cambodians, as well as against Iran and Hong Kong.

There are eight groups in all in this round of qualifiers, with five nations in each group.

In the end, the eight group winners and the four best runners-up advance to the third round of World Cup qualifying, and also secure their berths in the Asian Cup.

The next best 24 teams will compete in a separate competition for the remaining 12 slots in the Asian Cup.