We must be stronger: Sousa

TDT | Manama                      

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com   

Bahrain head coach Helio Sousa has called on the senior men’s national football team to “be stronger” as they march towards their highly anticipated title-defence in the 25th Gulf Cup, set to kick off next week in Iraq.

The nationals are scheduled to leave for Basra today morning ahead of the tournament start on Friday.

The Bahrainis are the reigning Gulf Cup champions, having won the title for the first time ever in the competition’s history in 2019 in Doha.

With just days remaining before the start of their bid to repeat, Sousa says that his team should put what happened in the last edition behind them and only look forward to conquering the upcoming challenges they will face.

“Just because it was good before—things went well, it was a good environment there, the fans were fantastic, and the final was unforgettable—that will give nothing for us the next time we need to win,” Sousa said.

“We need to rely on different things this time and we must be much stronger than we were before. We must fight; we must be better than we were at that time.

“The other teams are stronger too; they are different from before. There will be more difficulties in what we are trying to achieve again.

“We must make it happen in the game and we must do all to be in the best conditions to win again.” Bahrain are one of eight teams in this year’s Gulf Cup.

They are in Group B for the opening stage alongside the UAE, Qatar and Kuwait. Sousa stresses on the importance of making a positive start to the competition.

They play their first game on Saturday against the UAE at Basra’s Al Minaa Olympic Stadium.

“It’s a short competition, and in these types of tournaments, the first game is very important,” the Portuguese tactician explained.

“In the last Gulf Cup, we drew our first game, and that put more stress in the next ones.

If in our first game we can get a win, we can face the other games with a different situation. “But play all the time to win.

Every game. Against anyone.” Sousa expects this year’s Gulf Cup to be very hotly contested amongst all the participating teams, and added that Bahrain are all set to take on the region’s best.

“We are prepared just as the other teams that are participating in the tournament; we want to do well and to rise at the end, go to the final and win,” he said.

“We have the same possibilities and capacities of the other teams, knowing that the competition will be very tense, with lots of difficulties.

“We have strong teams in our group and the other group is level too. We must prepare for each game and hope to pass to the next stage of the competition.

If we can get to the semifinals, we will be able to have a good chance to fight for the cup again.” Sousa had called up 25 players last week for his initial squad to prepare for the Gulf Cup.

The team includes Ali Madan (Al Ajman FC, UAE); Abdulla Yusuf (Persija Jakarta, Indonesia); Abdulkarim Al Fardan, Ali Haram, Hamad Shamsan, Jassim Al Shaikh, Komail Alaswad, Mohammed Jassim Marhoon and Sayed Redha Isa (Riffa); Abdulla Alkhalasi, Abdulwahab Al Malood, Ahmed Al Sherooqi, Amine Hasan, Sayed Mohammed Jaafar and Waleed Al Hayam (Muharraq); Ahmed Bughammar, Mahdi Humaidan, Mohammed Adel and Sayed Dhiya Saeed (Al Khaldiya); Ammar Abbas, Ebrahim Al Khattal and Mahdi Abdullatif (Manama); Ebrahim Lutfallah (Al Ahli); Omar Salem (Budaiya); Hamza Adrees (East Riffa).

Bahrain Gulf Cup triumph in 2019 was an historic achievement for the national team, having captured the trophy for the first time in nearly 50 years.