Sousa calls up 23 for Bangkok camp

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain head coach Helio Sousa has named a 23-member senior men’s national football team for their upcoming overseas training camp in Bangkok, which they are conducting as part of their preparations for their AFC Asian Cup 2023 qualifiers next month.

The team currently does not include any top names from national champions Riffa and top side East Riffa, as they will be busy with their clubs competing in the group stages of this year’s AFC Cup competition in the middle of this month. Sousa has called up three of the Kingdom’s foreign-based professionals to the squad, including Ali Haram and Abdulla Hazaa from Al Tadhamon in Kuwait, and Abdulla Yousef from Slovan Liberec in the Czech Republic.

The rest of the players are from five local clubs, including Al Khaldiya, Muharraq, Manama, Al Ahli and Budaiya. The Khaldiya contingent are Mahdi Humaidan, Ahmed Abdulla, Ahmed Bughammar, Mohammed Adel, Mohammed Hardan, Sayed Dhiya Saeed and Sayed Shubbar Alawi.

From Muharraq are Abdulwahab Al Malood, Amine Hasan, Rashed Al Hooti, Waleed Al Hayam and Sayed Mohammed Jaafar. From Manama are Mahdi Abduljabbar, Ammar Abbas, Mahdi Abdullatif and Ebrahim Khattal; while from Ahli are Abbas Ayyad, Jamal Rashid and Mohammed Abdulwahab. Abdulaziz Mohammed from Budaiya completes the line-up of 23.

Bahrain’s training camp in the Thai capital is scheduled for May 11 to 31. During their Bangkok camp, they will be playing a training game on May 24, in addition to an international friendly against their Thai counterparts on the 31st. The Asian Cup qualifiers are then scheduled for the second week of June.

Sousa is expected to include some key players from Riffa and East Riffa in those matches. Bahrain are in Group E of Asian Cup qualifying along with Turkmenistan, Bangladesh and Malaysia. The group’s games are set to be hosted in Kuala Lumpur, and they will be played over a single round on three matchdays, including on June 8 against Bangladesh, on June 11 against Malaysia, and on June 14 against Turkmenistan.

The AFC Asian Cup is scheduled to kick off on June 16 next year in China. Bahrain are looking to secure their seventh appearance in the tournament proper. They first appeared in 1988, and have qualified for the last five tournaments in 2004, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019. The Bahrainis’ best finish in the competition was fourth in 2004. They reached the last 16 in 2019, but did not make it past the group stage the other times.