Bahrain miss U23 Asian Cup qualification

TDT | Manama    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s under-23 Olympic football team came up short last night in their bid to qualify for the AFC U23 Asian Cup 2024.

The Bahrainis wrapped up their qualification campaign with a goalless draw against Japan in both teams’ concluding Group D qualification match, played at Shaikh Ali bin Mohammed Al Khalifa Stadium at Muharraq Club in Arad.

The Japanese booked their tickets to next year’s continental competition as group winners.

Bahrain needed to finish first on the group table or be one of the four best runners-up amongst all the 11 qualifying groups.

But following their stalemate yesterday and after a late 2-1 victory for Palestine over Pakistan, the Bahrainis were ranked third in Group D with four points.

The under-23 nationals were unlucky in their three qualifying matches.

They gave up a heartbreaking stoppage-time goal to Palestine in an opening night loss, but then beat Pakistan 3-1 in their follow-up fixture.

They needed nothing less than a victory last night to claim their place in the AFC U23 Asian Cup, but could not come away with the three points.

In last night’s clash, both teams were formidable in defence and opportunities to score were few and far between.

Late in the contest, a prematurely taken free-kick in the 95th minute that was fired in by Mubarak Mohammed from a metre outside the penalty area appeared to have given Bahrain some hope. But the referee disallowed the goal as the shot was taken before his whistle.

Bahrain head coach Dario Basic fielded a starting 11 that included Salman Adel Alisa between the posts; Ahmed Dheyaa Ali, Abdulla Alkhalasi, Hani Taha Alharobi, Husain Ali Aleker and Hasan Isa Juma in a five-man defensive line; and Sayed Jawad Alawi, Hussain Jaafar Haroona, Mohammed Abdulqayoom and Salman Abdulla Qadhaib in midfield.

Skipper Hussain Abdulkarim was the lone man up front. There are 11 groups in all in the AFC U23 Asian Cup 2024 qualifiers, with each group being held at a centralised venue.

Following a single round-robin, the 11 group winners and four best second-placed teams made it through to the AFC U23 Asian Cup. Bahrain have made it to the tournament just once in the previous five editions.

That was in the 2020 event held in Thailand, where they did not make it past the group stage.