Bahrain beat DR Congo in friendly

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain defeated DR Congo 1-0 last night in an international friendly match played at the National Stadium in Riffa. Hashem Sayed Isa scored the game’s lone goal early in the second half to give the Bahrainis their second tune-up win in a week.

They had previously outclassed another top African side, Uganda, on Thursday 3-1. The Bahrainis’ two opponents are both highly ranked in their confederation and on the FIFA World Rankings. Heading into the two exhibitions, Uganda were 82nd and DR Congo 64th, while Bahrain were 91st.

Yesterday’s contest marked the end of the senior men’s national team’s latest training gathering. Starting the game for head coach Helio Sousa were Sayed Mohammed Jaafar between the posts; Hamad Shamsan, Abbas Ayyad, Abdulla Al Hazza and Hassan Karani in defence; Ali Madan, Abdulrahman Yousif, Jassim Al Shaikh and Komail Alaswad in midfield; and Hashem Sayed Isa and Abdulla Al Hashash up front.

After a goalless opening 45 minutes, Bahrain opened their account three minutes after the re-start. The nationals took advantage of some porous defending from their rivals, who should have easily cleared a cross from the right edge of the box from Bahrain’s Ayyad.

But his pass found its way to a waiting Isa in the face of goal, and he made no mistake with his low effort which he sent to the bottom-right corner of the net, past Congo’s reserve goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi Both teams had a few other chances to score on either side of half-time, but could not make the most of their chances.

The Bahrainis have used the two friendlies as part of their preparations for their upcoming competitions, which include the third round of qualification for the AFC Asian Cup 2023, which will be held in June.

The nationals have yet to learn of their groupings for this stage of qualification. The draw is scheduled to be held on February 24. Matches will be played over three days on June 8, 11 and 14. It was announced by the AFC that each group will hold their games in a centralised venue, and a bidding process will be held for the hosts.

Bahrain are one of 24 national teams competing in this third round of qualifying for the AFC Asian Cup 2023. These teams are to be divided into six groups of four to play a single round-robin.

The group winners and the best five runners-up across all groups will qualify for the Asian Cup, where they are joined by China and by the 12 teams which qualified directly from the second round. Bahrain have appeared in the Asian Cup, the continent’s premier football competition, six times in the past, including the last five editions. Their best finish was fourth in 2004.