Bahrain gearing up for Asian futsal

TDT | Manama                                                      

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s senior men’s national futsal team stepped up their final preparations for the AFC Futsal Asian Cup 2024.

The tournament is scheduled to kick off on Wednesday in Bangkok, Thailand, and will continue until April 28, with 16 nations from across the continent in the fray.

Upon reaching the Thai capital late last week, the nationals played a friendly match against fellow-participants Iraq.

The tune-up finished deadlocked at 1-1, with Ammar Hassan scoring the Bahrainis’ goal.

The nationals feature a 14-player squad in the competition, coached by Rafael Fogageiro from Brazil.

The roster includes Hassan, Sayed Fadhel Mahfouz, Sayed Mohammed Hameed, Loay Al Mahfouz, Amin Muhammad, Saleh Ahmed, Mohammed Abdulla, Jassam Anan, Mohammed Al Sindi, Hassan Ebrahim, Mirza Al Nuaimi, Hassan Mohammed, Hamad Abdulla, and Ali Al Araibi.

The Bahrainis have been drawn in a challenging Group D for the tournament’s preliminary round.

The nationals are alongside Iran, Kuwait and Afghanistan.

Group A features hosts Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar and China; Group B includes Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Australia; and Group C is composed of defending champions Japan, Tajikistan, South Korea and Kyrgyzstan.

Open Bahrain open their campaign on Thursday against the Kuwaitis, and then take on their Iranian counterparts two days later on April 20.

They then face off with Afghanistan in their concluding Group D fixture on April 22.

The best two sides in each of the four pools move on to the quarter-finals, which is scheduled to be held on April 24.

The semi-finals follow on April 26, and then the gold medal contest, as well as the game for third place, will be held on April 28.

The top four finishers at the AFC Futsal Asian Cup Thailand 2024 will qualify for the FIFA Futsal World Cup Uzbekistan 2024, which will take place between September 14 and October 6, marking the first time the global showpiece will be held in Central Asia.

Bahrain booked their seats in the AFC Futsal Asian Cup 2024 after finishing as runners-up in their qualifying group, which was hosted by the Kingdom.

The nationals previously also played in the 2002, 2018 and 2022 tournaments, with their best finish in the 2018 event in Taiwan where they reached the quarter-finals.

This year’s event is Bahrain’s third successive appearance in the continental competition.

The last edition of the competition, held in Kuwait in 2022, saw Bahrain eliminated from the group stage, after losing two of their preliminary round games and drawing the other.

Japan went on to clinch the title after beating Iran 3-2 in the final.