Madan named on matchday team in Asian Cup

TDT | Manama                                                     

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s Ali Madan was named on the Team of Matchday Two in the AFC Asian Cup, currently being held in Doha. The squad was announced yesterday by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

Madan hit the game-winner in the national team’s 1-0 win over Malaysia in Group E of the tournament’s preliminary round, earning them their first victory and a crucial three points. Madan was one of four midfielders named onto the best 11.

The others were Mohamed Kanno of Saudi Arabia, Abbosbek Fayzullayev of Uzbekistan, and Akram Afif of Qatar.

Khalid Eisa of the UAE was the goalkeeper selected on the Team of Matchday Two, while the defenders were Saudi’s Saud Abdulhamid, Oman’s Ahmed Al Khamisi, Indonesia’s Justin Hubner and Iran’s Milad Mohammadi.

The forwards were Aymen Hussein of Iraq and Yazan Al Naimat of Jordan.

The Bahrainis’ win against the Malaysians followed a 1-3 loss against South Korea in their opening fixture.

They play their last game of the preliminaries on Thursday against Jordan, with a place in the knockout stage on the line.

The nationals continued their preparations last night with training supervised by head coach Juan Antonio Pizzi.

Bahrain are currently third on the Group E standings with three points.

The South Koreans and Jordanians top the group, with Jordan occupying first place on goal difference.

Malaysia are bottom of the table following a second straight loss.

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.