Bahrainis kick off Dubai camp

TDT | Manama                                                     

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s senior men’s national football team arrived yesterday in Dubai to conduct a final training camp ahead of the fast-approaching AFC Asian Cup.

The continental championship is scheduled to kick off on 12 January and continue until 10 February.

It will be played in Doha, with the Bahrainis being one of 24 national teams from across Asia taking part.

The Bahrain delegation that travelled to the Emirates included 26 players who were named on the final list for the AFC Asian Cup.

The nationals went right to work as they are set to play an international friendly match against continental powerhouses Australia on Saturday.

They then face African side Angola in an informal training game on 10 January, after which they depart for Doha the following day.

The nationals held their first on-pitch session under the supervision of head coach Juan Antonio Pizzi last night at Dubai’s JA Sports Centre.

Bahrain are in Group E for the AFC Asian Cup’s preliminary round along with South Korea, Malaysia and Jordan.

The nationals kick off their campaign against the South Koreans on 15 January at 2.30pm, and then take on their Malaysian counterparts on 20 January at 5.30pm.

They complete the preliminaries against Jordan on 25 January at 2.30pm.

All times are Bahrain. 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.