Bahrain, Saudi clash for West Asian under-23 semis berth

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s under-23 Olympic football team take on their counterparts from Saudi Arabia tonight in their concluding Group B match of the third West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) U-23 Championship, with an eye on qualifying for the tournament’s semi-finals.

The game is scheduled for a 9pm kick-off at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah.

The nationals head into the contest with more than once chance to make it through to the final four.

They are currently in first place in their division with three points and a plusone goal difference.

Syria are second, also with three points but with zero goal difference, while Saudi are third with no points.

A win for the Bahrainis will put them through as group winners as will a draw.

But a loss will complicate matters as the three teams will be level on points, which would then be decided by tournament’s tiebreak rules.

Bahrain held a training session last night under head coach Dario Basic in preparation for this evening’s fixture.

The nationals eked out a last-minute 2-1 victory over Syria in their opening contest while the Syrians defeated Saudi with the same scoreline in their game.

In Group A, Oman currently lead with three points followed by Qatar and Lebanon with a point apiece.

They also wrap up their opening stage with the Omanis playing the Qataris at 5pm today at the same venue.

Only the top two teams from each group at the end of this first phase will advance to the semi-finals.

In the last edition of the WAFF U-23 Championship, Jordan were the champions while Saudi finished as runners-up. The nationals were ousted from the group stage without any wins in two matches.

Bahrain are using this competition to help them gear up for the the qualifiers of the AFC U23 Asian Cup 2024, which will be held next year.