Bahrainis all set for international duty

TDT | Manama    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s senior men’s national football team have kicked off their daily training sessions in Dubai, where they will be playing a pair of international friendly matches in the coming week.

The nationals are gearing up for their upcoming continental qualifying campaign for the FIFA World Cup 2026, starting this November, as well as the next edition of the AFC Asian Cup, to be held in Doha in January of next year.

The Bahrainis are scheduled to play Kuwait on Thursday night and then go up against Turkmenistan on Tuesday next week, both in the UAE.

The game with the Kuwaitis will be held at Dubai Police Club Stadium and it is scheduled for a 6pm kick-off, Bahrain time. Bahrain are also scheduled to play two exhibition games next month at home.

They will lock horns with Kyrgyzstan on 12 October and then against the Philippines men’s national team on 17 October.

The dates of the Kyrgyzstan and Philippines friendlies have been switched from what was originally announced by the Bahrain Football Association.

The nationals are gearing up for the upcoming period under the supervision of head coach Juan Antonio Pizzi.

The Dubai tune-ups will be the first official matches for Bahrain with the Argentinian in charge.

Meanwhile, the national team’s three overseas-based professionals joined the squad yesterday in the Emirates for their upcoming friendlies.

Ali Madan, Mohammed Marhoon and Abdulla Yusuf have all been called up by Pizzi for international duty but have not been able to join the squad due to club commitments until now.

The rest of the team features Mahdi Humaidan, Sayed Dhiya Saeed, Ahmed Bughammar, Mohammed Adel, Mohammed Al Hardan, Mahdi Abduljabbar, Hamza Al Juban, Amine Hasan, Hussain Jameel, Sayed Mohammed Jaafar, Sayed Redha Issa, Abdulkarim Al Fardan, Ahmed Al Sherooqi, Waleed Al Hayyam, Ahmed Nabeel, Ali Hassan Saeed, Komail Alaswad, Ali Haram, Jassim Al Shaikh, Talal Al Sherooqi, Abbas Al Asfoor, Ebrahim Luthfallah, Ebrahim Al Khattal and Ahmed Moussa.

There are five rounds in the World Cup qualification format for the AFC, which will have eight teams book their tickets to the global showcase, plus potentially another following an inter-confederation play-off. Bahrain will play directly in the second round of qualifiers beginning in November.

They have been drawn in a competitive Group H along with the UAE, and either Yemen or Sri Lanka and Nepal or Laos. The nationals kick off their campaign on 16 November against either Yemen or Sri Lanka.