Bahrain fall to Kuwait in friendly

TDT | Manama            

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain lost to Kuwait 1-3 in an international friendly match played in Dubai last night. Ahmed Al Dhefiri and Shabib Al Khaldi were the goalscorers for the winners in the contest, which was played at Dubai Police Club Stadium. 

Bahrain’s Abdulla Yusuf fired in the nationals’ lone consolation.  Al Dhefiri opened the scoring for the Kuwaitis in the fourth minute, giving them a dream start. His strike was enough for Kuwait to take the slim advantage into the break. 

In the second half, the Kuwait is doubled their lead through Shabib Al Khaldi just 11 minutes after the restart. Al Khaldi then added another to complete his brace with a goal in the 65th minute.  Yusuf then got one back for the Bahrainis, finding the net in the 70th minute. 

The game was the first of two tune-up contests the nationals are playing in the coming week in the UAE as they prepare for their upcoming continental qualifying campaign for the FIFA World Cup 2026, starting this November.

They are also gearing up for the next edition of the AFC Asian Cup, to be held in Doha in January of next year. Bahrain will next face off with Turkmenistan on Tuesday next week, also in Dubai.

The nationals 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.

Last night’s friendly was the first official match for Bahrain under their recently signed head coach Juan Antonio Pizzi from Argentina. Pizzi started a first 11 that included Sayed Mohammed Jaafar in goal, and Amine Hasan, Waleed Al Hayyam, Sayed Dhiya Saeed, Hamza Al Juban, Mohammed Al Hardan, Komail Al Aswad, Ali Madan, Mohammed Marhoon, Mahdi Humaidan and Yusuf. 

The rest of the Bahrain squad in the UAE includes Ahmed Bughammar, Mohammed Adel, Mahdi Abduljabbar, Hussain Jameel, Sayed Redha Issa, Abdulkarim Al Fardan, Ahmed Al Sherooqi, Ahmed Nabeel, Ali Hassan Saeed, 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.