Bahrain teams set for international friendlies
TDT | Manama
The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com
Bahrain’s senior men’s national football team and under-23 Olympic team are both set to play a pair of international friendly matches over the next week at home. The senior men are first set to take on Palestine on Saturday and then face off with Syria on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Olympic side will be facing Estonia tonight and then again on Sunday. The matches are scheduled for 9.30pm kick-off. Both teams have begun their local training gatherings in preparation for their tune-up games.
The seniors are being supervised by national team head coach Helio Sousa, while the Olympic team is practicing under head coach Dario Basic. The senior team friendlies be their first international games since competing in the 25th Arab Gulf Cup in Iraq in January.
They are using the matches to prepare for their upcoming competitions, including the 2023 AFC Asian Cup, to be held in Doha. The tournament was originally scheduled to take place this summer, but has been rescheduled to January of next year.
Bahrain are one of 24 teams who have qualified for the Asian Cup. The draw for the preliminary round has yet to be held by the AFC. Bahrain’s friendlies with Palestine and Syria have emerged after the national team withdrew from the West Asian Football federation (WAFF) Championship, which was supposed to be held in March.
Sousa has called up a 25-player squad for their upcoming friendly games. The roster includes Ali Madan from Ajman in the UAE and Mohammed Jassim Marhoon from Kuwait SC in Kuwait; Ali Haram, Sayed Hashim Issa, Jassim Al Shaikh, and Komail Al Aswad from defending Bahrain league champions Riffa; and Ahmed Bughammar, Mahdi Humaidan, Mohammed Adel, Mohammed Hardan and Sayed Dhiya Saeed from Al Khaldiya.
From Manama are Ahmed Nabeel, Ammar Abbas, Ebrahim Al Khattal, Mahdi Abduljabbar and Mahdi Abdullatif; while from Muharraq are Abdulla Al Khalasi, Amine Hasan, Hamza Juban, Waleed Al Hayyam and veteran goalkeeper Sayed Mohammed Jaafar.
Abbas Fadhel and Ebrahim Al Luthfallah have been called up from Al Ahli, while completing the squad list are Omar Salem from Budaiya and Hussein Ali Abdulla from Shabab. Meanwhile, the Olympic team are using the friendlies to help prepare for their qualifiers to the AFC U23 Asian Cup 2024, which are set to take place later this year.
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