Bahrain U23s step up preparations

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s under-23 Olympic football team have picked up their training for their upcoming competitions at the regional and continental levels. The Bahrainis are gearing up for both the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) U23 Championship as well as for the AFC U23 Asian Cup 2022 Qualifiers, both of which are scheduled to take place this October.

The nationals are scheduled to play two international friendly matches against Tajikistan over the next week as part of their current programme. The first face-off with the visitors on Friday and then play once again on Monday next week.

Head coach Ismail Karimi recently named eight new players onto his list of 28 who are now practising with the team.

This comes after eight others were dropped. The additions include Khalid Khalil, Duaij Bader, Salem Aldoseri, Adulrahman Alkooheji, Mohammed Faris, Sayed Mahdi Sharaf, Saleh Mohammed and Mohammed Abdulqayoom.

They join their countrymen who have already been gearing up over the past few weeks, namely Ammar Mohammed, Younis Moussa, Adnan Fawaz, Abdulla Al Haiki, Ahmed Al Sherooqi, Hussain Abdulkarim, Abdullah Freih, Ebrahim Shareeda, Hamza Abdulla, Ali Al Dosari, Ali Muftah, Sayed Mohamed Ameen, Faisal Abdulla, Hassan Issa, Fahad Jassim, Ziyad Basel, Ebrahim Al Khattal, Hamad Fouad, Hamza Al Jebben and Abdulla Nimer.

The WAFF U23 Championship will be held in Saudi Arabia from October 4 to 12 with the participation of 11 teams. These are Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the UAE, Oman, Yemen, Iraq, Kuwait, host Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

A draw will be held on September 12 to separate the teams into three groups, two including four teams and another with three. Meanwhile, Bahrain are in a tough Group C for the AFC U23 Asian Cup Qualifiers alongside Iraq, Afghanistan and the Maldives. The qualifiers are scheduled for October 23 to 31.

Bahrain’s matches are to be held in the Kingdom. The Bahrainis open their qualifying campaign on October 27 against Afghanistan and then play the Maldives two nights later.

They close out the qualifiers against Iraq on October 31. Forty-two participating teams are in 11 groups, with 15 spots available at next year’s AFC U23 Asian Cup.

The 11 group winners and four best second-placed teams seal their qualification to the AFC U23 Asian Cup. Uzbekistan has already confirmed their place as tournament hosts, which will be the first time the tournament will be staged in the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) Central Zone.