Bahrain strongly motivated to retain title: Sousa
TDT | Manama
The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com
Bahrain lock horns with the UAE this evening to kick off their highly anticipated bid to repeat as champions in the 25th Arab Gulf Cup, being held in Basra, Iraq.
The game is the first in the tournament’s Group B and it is scheduled for a 4.15pm kick-off, Bahrain time, at Al Minaa Olympic Stadium.
Speaking in their pre-match Press conference, national team head coach Helio Sousa and long-serving team captain and goalkeeper Sayed Mohammed Jaafar expressed the squad’s aspirations of defending the title they won for the first time in the competition’s history in 2019.
“Having spent a long time in the region, I see the levels are close, and it is not possible to expect that the differences are very few, but our being the title holders gives us strong support and motivation to maintain the title,” said Sousa.
Jaafar added: “We enter a strong match against a team that has distinguished elements that participated in the World Cup qualifiers, and we seek to appear as the champion.”
Sousa is expecting a tough challenge against the Emiratis in their first game, which he said is always an important fixture in such tournaments.
“The UAE is a strong team, well prepared; we also prepared well, and our goal is to appear in the best form,” Sousa said.
“We do not focus on excuses and pressures as much as we are looking for good work. “Everyone now looks at us differently than before; everyone now counts us as a thousand accounts.
We are the title holders.” Jaafar further stressed: “We always strive to be fully prepared.”
Meanwhile, UAE head coach Rodolfo Arruabarrena from Argentina expects a hard fight from Bahrain.
“The Bahraini national team will fight fiercely to preserve its title, and we will work to impose our style of play on the match,” he said in his Press conference yesterday.
Bahrain and the UAE are joined in Group B by Qatar and Kuwait, who face off in tonight’s other game kicking off at 7.15pm.
The Bahrainis take on Qatar on Tuesday next week and then play Kuwait on Friday. Group A features hosts Iraq, Oman, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
The top two teams at the end of a single round-robin move on to the semi-finals, scheduled for 16 January. The final will then be held on 19 January.
Bahrain have a 23-member squad in Basra.
The players include Jaafar, Ali Madan (Al Ajman FC, UAE); Abdulla Yusuf (Persija Jakarta, Indonesia); 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, and Waleed Al Hayam (Muharraq); Ahmed Bughammar, Mahdi Humaidan, Mohammed Adel and Sayed Dhiya Saeed (Al Khaldiya); Ebrahim Al Khattal and Mahdi Abdullatif (Manama); Ebrahim Lutfallah (Al Ahli); Omar Salem (Budaiya); Hamza Adrees (East Riffa)
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