Bahrain squad set for Asian Cup qualifiers

TDT | Manama    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain coach Helio Sousa has named a final 24-player list for the senior men’s national football team that will be taking part in the upcoming qualifiers for the AFC Asian Cup 2023.

The roster was named ahead of the Bahrainis’ international friendly match today against Thailand, which will mark the conclusion of their overseas training camp in Bangkok.

The nationals are then scheduled to fly to Kuala Lumpur where their qualification group will be holding their matches. Sousa’s final list sees the return of a number of key players from Bahrain champions Riffa, who were recently excluded due to club commitments.

They include Komail Alaswad, Mohammed Jassim Marhoon, Jassim Al Shaikh, Hashim Sayed Isa, Sayed Redha Isa and Hamad Shamsan, among others. The roster also features many of the Kingdom’s other top talents, namely Ali Madan, Mahdi Humaidan, Abdulla Yusuf, Ali Haram, Abdulwahab Al Malood, Sayed Dhiya Saeed, Waleed Al Hayyam and Ahmed Bughammar, to name a few.

Among the players left off from the previous team list are Bahrain league top scorer Mahdi Abduljabbar, Abdulla Al Hazzaa, Jamal Rashid, Mohammed Abdulwahab, Mohammed Adel, Omar Saber and Abdulaziz Al Shaikh.

Today’s friendly match will be the second time Bahrain will be facing off with players from the Thai national team. They previously held a training exercise with the home side earlier in their camp. The Bahrainis are also coming off a 2-0 win over Myanmar in a previous international friendly last week.

The nationals are set to play in Group E of Asian Cup qualification alongside Turkmenistan, Bangladesh and Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur. The games will be held 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.