Bahrain team named for latest camp

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain head coach Helio Sousa has called up a 28-player squad for their latest training camp in the Kingdom, which will be kicking off on Monday. This was announced yesterday by the Bahrain Football Association (BFA).

The nationals will be gearing up for their upcoming campaign in the FIFA Arab Cup in Doha starting at the end of November and continuing until next month. The Bahrainis’ gathering will be until November 16 and it will be part of their final preparations leading up to the Arab Cup.

During their camp, they are scheduled to play a pair of international friendly matches, first against Morocco on November 12 and then facing Kyrgyzstan on the 16th. Sousa’s squad includes four of Bahrain’s internationals from overseas, with the others from local league champions Riffa, Al Khaldiya, Muharraq, Manama, East Riffa, Al Ahli and Malkiya. The foreign-based players are Ali Madan from Al Urooba in the UAE, Abdulla Yusuf from Slovan Liberec in the Czech Republic, and the pair of Ali Haram and Abdulla Hazza from Al Tadhamon in Kuwait.

The rest of the team features Abbas Fadhel, Hazza Ali, Jasim Al Shaikh, Komail Alaswad, Mohammed Jassim Marhoon, Redha Isa and Sayed Mahdi Baqer from Riffa; Sayed Shubbar Alawi, Ahmed Bughammar, Sayed Dhiya Saeed, Mahdi Humaidan, Ismaeel Abdullatif and Mohammed Hardan from Khaldiya; Abdulwahab Al Malood, Waleed Al Hayam, Rashed Al Hooti and Sayed Mohammed Jaafar from Muharraq; Ahmed Nabeel, Ammar Abbas and Mahdi Abduljabbar from Manama; Mohammed Al Romaihi from East Riffa; Abbas Ayyad and Mohammed Abdulwahab from Ahli; and Mohammed Marhoon from Malkiya.

In their upcoming friendlies, Morocco and Kyrgyzstan will give the Bahrainis a solid test ahead of their Arab Cup campaign. Morocco are the 33rd-ranked team in the world and are fourth-best in the Confederation of African football.

Kyrgyzstan, on the other hand, are just a few places behind Bahrain on the FIFA World Ranking in 98th position and 15th in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

Following this upcoming gathering, the nationals will reassemble on November 22 for the final lead-up to the Arab Cup, which has a November 30 kick-off date.

The Bahrainis are scheduled to fly to the Qatari capital on November 26. Bahrain are in Group A for the tournament, which will feature 16 nations in all.

The other teams in their group are hosts Qatar, Iraq and Oman. After the tournament’s opening stage, which is composed of four groups of four teams each, the top two from each group move on to the knockout quarter-finals. The Arab Cup will help Bahrain prepare for their campaign in the third round of qualifying for the AFC Asian Cup 2023, which is set for June next year.