Bahrain’s Asian Cup squad named

TDT | Manama                                                     

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

A 26-player squad has been named for the final roster of Bahrain’s senior men’s national football team that will be taking part in the highly anticipated AFC Asian Cup. The prestigious continental competition is scheduled to be held from 12 January to 10 February in Doha.

The list of the Kingdom’s talents was announced yesterday by the Bahrain Football Association (BFA). Coached by Argentinian Juan Antonio Pizzi, the team features Bahrain’s biggest names, including Komail Al Aswad, Ali Madan, Mohammed Marhoon, Abdulla Yusuf, Mahdi Humaidan, Jassim Al Shaikh, Mohammed Abdulwahab, Waleed Al Hayyam, and goalkeeper Sayed Mohammed Jaafar, to name a few.

The rest of the squad includes Amine Benadi, Sayed Mahdi Baqer, Ahmed Bughammar, Mohammed Adel, Hussain Al Aker, Abdulla Al Khalasi, Hazza Ali, Moses Atede, Mohammed Hardan, Ebrahim Alwali, Mohammed Abdulqayoom, Jassim Khelaif, Ebrahim Al Khattal, Ali Hassan Saeed, Abdulla Al Hashash and goalkeepers Ebrahim Luthfallah and Abdulkarim Al Fardan.

The Bahrainis are scheduled to train in Dubai this week in their final lead-up to the AFC Asian Cup. There, they will be playing a pair of friendly matches against top global opponents. The nationals will first have an informal training game against Angola before taking to the pitch for an official international tune-up against Australia on Saturday.

The nationals are scheduled to travel to the UAE tomorrow. Both Bahrain and Australia are among the 24 national teams set to compete in Doha. The Bahrainis are in Group E for the AFC Asian Cup along with South Korea, Malaysia and Jordan. The nationals kick off their campaign against the South Koreans on 15 January, and then take on their Malaysian counterparts on 20 January.

They complete the preliminary stage against Jordan on 25 January. Bahrain need to finish amongst the top two in their group to automatically advance to the knockout stage, or be one of four of the best-ranked thirdplaced teams from the six pools. Group A features hosts Qatar, China, Tajikistan and Lebanon. Group B includes Australia, Uzbekistan, Syria and India.

Group C is composed of Iran, the UAE, Hong Kong and Palestine. Group D comprises Japan, Indonesia, Iraq and Vietnam. And Group F features Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Kyrgyzstan and Oman. Bahrain will be making their seventh appearance in the AFC Asian Cup next year, having qualified for the competition’s sixth straight edition. Their first appearance came in 1988, and then also played in 2004, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019. Their best finish to date was fourth overall in the 2004 tournament held in China.