Bahrainis eye victory in Malaysia clash

TDT | Manama                                                     

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s senior men’s national football team continued yesterday their preparations for the match against Malaysia tomorrow in the AFC Asian Cup in Doha. The Bahrainis conducted two training sessions yesterday—the first during the morning in the gym where they worked on their physical fitness, and then in the evening on the pitch where head coach Juan Antonio Pizzi worked with the players on the technical side.

Pizzi will today hold his pregame Press conference along with star midfielder Ali Madan at 11am. Tomorrow’s Group E game against the Malaysians is scheduled for a 5.30pm kick-off, Bahrain time, at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium in the Qatari city of Al Rayyan.

It followed the Bahrainis’ 1-3 loss to continental giants South Korea earlier this week. Malaysia also lost their opening fixture of the tournament—a 0-4 drubbing from Jordan. Following tomorrow’s assignment, the nationals take on the Jordanians on Thursday next week at Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, set for a 2.30pm start, also Bahrain.

South Korea and Jordan face off in the other Group E match today at 2.30pm. The Bahrainis need to finish amongst the top two in their group to automatically advance to the knockouts, or be one of four best-ranked third-placed teams from the six pools.

Pizzi has 26 players on his squad in Doha. They include goalkeepers Sayed Mohammed Jaafar, Ebrahim Luthfallah and Abdulkarim Al Fardan; defenders Sayed Mahdi Baqer, Waleed Al Hayyam, Salem Hussain, Mohammed Adel, Hussain Al Aker and Abdulla Al Khalasi; midfielders Hazza Ali, Mohammed Abdulwahab, Moses Atede, Mohammed Hardan, Ebrahim Alwali, Mohammed Abdulqayoom, Jassim Al Shaikh, Jassim Khelaif, Mohammed Marhoon, Komail Al Aswad and Ebrahim Al Khattal; and forwards Ali Hassan Saeed, Ali Madan, Mahdi Humaidan, Abdulla Al Hashash and Abdulla Yusuf.

Defender Amine Benadi, who suffered an injury in their loss to South Korea, is also still with the team at the Qatari capital but has been ruled out from returning to action over the remainder of the competition.