Manama lift BFA Cup with shootout victory

TDT | Manama                                        

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com   

Manama were last night crowned champions of the 2022/2023 Bahrain Football Association Cup.

Manama secured the title after defeating Al Khaldiya 5-4 in a thrilling penalty shootout in the tournament final, played at the Al Ahli Club stadium in Mahooz.

Manama converted all five of their spot kicks, capped by a Younes Moussa clincher past Khaldiya goalkeeper Abdulla Al Thawadi, to secure the victory.

Khaldiya scored all but one of their penalties, with the crucial miss by former Bahrain international striker Ismaeel Abdullatif on their fourth attempt.

The match was deadlocked at 2-2 at the end of regular time.

On target for Khaldiya were Dominique Mendy and Samy Frioui, while scoring for Manama were Abdulrahman Sayed and Mohammed Kamel Abdulrazzaq.

The game went straight to penalties with no extra-time. Manama were first to get onto the scoresheet with a header from close range in the seventh minute.

Sayed sent the ball home off a cross by Issa Mousa.

It didn’t take long for Khalidya to equalise, as Mendy scored the very next minute, also with a header from the face of goal.

Khaldiya then went ahead in the 27th minute when Frioui slotted the ball home from a perfectly placed lob pass from near midfield supplied by Mendy.

Manama then levelled the scores once more in the 52nd minute with Abdulrazzaq’s strike off some fine play-making by Khalifa Al Lafi, who supplied the assist. Both teams had several other chances to score in either half, but they either could not apply the finishing touches or their conversions were disallowed due to off-side infarctions.

That set the stage for the shootout. Manama followed Muharraq as champions of the local competition.

Muharraq had won the trophy the past three seasons. It is their first BFA Cup title.