Bahrain beat Oman in futsal friendly ahead of Arabian Gulf Cup

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s national futsal team defeated their counterparts from Oman 4-2 in an international friendly match played at the Bahrain Handball Association arena in Um Al Hassam. Mohammed Abdulla fired in two goals for the nationals, while the others were supplied by Salman Maula and Mohammed Al Sandi.

The two sides are scheduled to meet for another tune-up game tonight at the same venue. The friendlies are part of both teams’ preparations for the Arabian Gulf Futsal Cup, which is scheduled to take place next month with five teams, including Kuwait, the UAE, hosts Saudi Arabia, Oman and Bahrain.

They are also gearing up for the upcoming qualifiers for the 2022 AFC Futsal Asian Cup. The qualification competition is scheduled to be held from April 1 to 15 in the UAE, with seven teams from the Asian Football Confederation’s West Zone taking part.

Bahrain have been drawn in Group B for the qualifiers alongside Iraq and the host Emiratis, while Group A comprises Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Palestine and Oman. After a single round-robin, the top two teams from each group book their tickets to the AFC Futsal Asian Cup, while the third-ranked teams will face each other in a play-off for one more berth.

The tournament proper will be held in Kuwait from September 25 to October 20, with the participation of 16 national teams from across the continent. The nationals have already been training over the past few weeks under head coach Lino Gomes from Brazil.

Gomes has named an initial 18-player squad for their preparations. Aside from Abdulla, Maula and Al Sandi, the team list features Amin Mohamed, Ebrahim Al Dosari, Sayed Fadhel Radhi, Sayed Mohamed Hameed, Ali Abdulkhaleq Alaraibi, Ali Saleh, Ahmed Abdulnabi, Ahmed Antar, Amar Mayhad, Falah Abbas, Hamed Abdulla, Hasan Marzooq, Jassam Saleh Anan, Mohamed Al Saeed and Yousif Abdulrab.