Sousa makes national team call-ups

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s senior men’s national football team head coach Helio Sousa has called up 26 players for their latest training gathering.

The practices are scheduled to kick off tomorrow and continue until October 12, as the nationals continue to prepare for their upcoming competitions, including the FIFA Arab Cup 2021 later this year.

The latest training period will include two international friendly matches against Curacao on October 6 and then New Zealand on October 12.

The squad list includes players from Riffa, Al Khaldiya, Muharraq, Manama, Al Ahli, and East Riffa, as well as a few from overseas-based clubs including Al Tadhamon SC from Kuwait, Al Urooba from the UAE and FC Slovan Liberec from the Czech Republic.

Striker Abdulla Yusuf from Slovan Liberec is making a return to national team duty after being left off previous lists.

This is the same for Mahdi Abduljabbar, Manama’s prolific scorer who was the winner of the Golden Boot from last year’s Nasser bin Hamad Bahrain Premier Football League. Several Bahrain’s top international regulars also feature in the squad, including Komail Alaswad, Jassim Al-Shaikh and Mohammed Jassim Marhoon from Riffa; Sayed Dhiya Saeed and Mahdi Humaidan from Al Khaldiya; Abdulwahab Al Malood, Waleed Al Hayam and Rashed Al Hooti fromo Muharraq; Mohammed Al Rumaihi from East Riffa; Abdulla Hazza and Ali Haram from Al Tadhamon SC in Kuwait; and Ali Madan from Al Urooba in the UAE. Aside from Bahrain’s pair of upcoming friendlies at home, Curacao and New Zealand will also be facing one another in an exhibition game on October 9.

All the matches are set to be held at the National Stadium in Riffa.

Curacao is part of the Confederation of North, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF) and they are currently ranked higher than Bahrain in 79th overall on the FIFA World Ranking.

New Zealand is the top-ranked team from the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC), currently 121st in the world.

The FIFA Arab Cup 2021 will be held in Doha, with the participation of 16 national teams.

It will kick off on November 30 and continue until December 18. Bahrain is in Group A, which also features hosts Qatar, Iraq and Oman.