Bahrain set up friendlies against top global opposition

TDT | Manama                                                             

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s senior men’s national football team will play a pair of international friendly matches next month against top opposition from Africa and North America. The Bahrain Football Association (BFA) announced last night that the Kingdom’s squad will lock horns with Cape Verde on September 23 and then face off with Panama on September 27. Both games will be played at the National Stadium in Riffa, kicking off at 7pm each time.

The friendlies are the second and third warm-up games scheduled by the BFA for the senior men’s team. They add to the game Bahrain will be playing against FIFA World Cup 2022 participants Serbia at home on November 18.

The matches are part of the Bahrainis’ preparations for their upcoming tournaments, which include their much-awaited title defence in the Gulf Cup, which will take place in January of next year. The nationals are also set to compete in the AFC Asian Cup 2023 in June. Both Cape Verde and Panama are classified above Bahrain in the FIFA World Ranking.

Cape Verde are in the Confederation of African Football, and they are currently 72nd in the world. Panama, in the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF), are ranked 61st in the world.

For Serbia, their game with Bahrain will be leading up to their campaign in the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar, where they have been drawn in Group G for the first round alongside Brazil, Switzerland and Cameroon. The match is one of the most high-profile fixtures for Bahrain in recent years, as it pits them against a top-ranked national team from Europe.

The Serbians are currently 25th in the FIFA World Ranking, including 14th amongst all teams in the Union of European Football Associations. Bahrain are 85t h , 12 th amongst all squads in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

The upcoming Gulf Cup is scheduled to take place in Basra, Iraq, from January 6 to 19. It will be the 25th edition of the prestigious competition. Bahrain won the last event which took place in 2019, held in Doha. It was the first Gulf Cup title for the Kingdom. Bahrain will be one of eight nations taking part.

The others are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, Kuwait, Yemen, Qatar and hosts Iraq. Earlier this year, Bahrain were one of 11 nations to secure their AFC Asian Cup 2023 berths from the third and final round of qualifying. From the six groups in that stage, all six winners and the five best runners-up made it through.

The others to qualify were Jordan and Indonesia from Group A, Palestine from Group B, Uzbekistan and Thailand from Group C, India and Hong Kong from Group D, Malaysia behind Bahrain from Group E, and Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan from Group F. They joined the 13 who had already claimed their places from the second round of qualification, namely Japan, Syria, Qatar, South Korea, Australia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, China, Iraq, Oman, Vietnam and Lebanon.