Bahrain ‘must fight’ against Nepal: Talajic

TDT | Manama                                                      

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain head coach Dragan Talajic said last night that there is no room for complacency when they square off with Nepal in their joint-qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup 2027.

The Kingdom’s senior men’s national football team play their Nepalese counterparts twice in the coming days, first tonight and then again on Tuesday next week.

But while the Bahrainis are the heavily favoured side in both Group H contests, Talajic said that his team must still give their maximum effort and not take their opponents lightly.

“I am not happy with the situation that we are already thinking now about getting six points in our account; this is not realistic,” Talajic said yesterday in his pre-match Press conference. “We have to fight for these six points.

“Of course, we are the much better team with much better quality in our players. But this is only on paper. We have to show it on the field. Because of this, I have chosen the players who I trust; I trust their character a n d t h a t they will show for us good football tomorrow and then after a few days again.

“We need to get these six points and it will not be easy. It is never easy against any team, but we know we are prepared in a quality way.”

Tonight ’s encounter will be the first official match for Talajic as the national  team head coach, and he expressed his appreciation for those who were in his post ahead of him.

“Thank you to the previous coaches before me,” he said. “They did a great job and the best they can, now it has come my time, and inshallah we can progress better. But I say to my colleagues thanks for everything they have done for Bahrain football.”

Leadership

Talajic spoke on the importance of selecting veteran forward Ismaeel Abdullatif onto the team’s roster. The Croatian praised Abdullatif for his leadership qualities, and even made a bold prediction about their qualification hopes.

“We are not bringing Ismaeel only for the atmosphere, I brought him because he has excellent quality and he has shown me he can help us,” Talajic explained.

“We have some problem in attacking. I know his history of playing; he is the best scorer. He will continue with us until the America World Cup. And we will be in the America World Cup, I promise you now.”

Tonight’s match is scheduled for a 10pm kick-off at the National Stadium in Riffa. The Bahrainis are currently in second place in Group H behind the UAE and ahead of Yemen and Nepal.

The nationals so far have a win and a loss in joint-qualification, having previously beaten Yemen 2-0 in their opening assignment held in November of last year, but then losing to the UAE 0-2 in their following fixture later that same month.

After these upcoming ties with the Nepalese, their final two outings will be against Yemen at home on June 6, and then away against the UAE on June 11.

At the end of this stage of the joint-qualifiers, the winners and runners-up of each of the nine groups advance to the third round of FIFA World Cup 2026 qualification, and also book their direct tickets to the AFC Asian Cup 2027.