Bahrain defeated the Philippines, 1-0, in an international friendly game at the Muharraq Stadium last night.
Midfielder Ibrahim Al Khatal scored the only goal of the match in the 16th minute as he managed to get the ball past Philippine goalkeeper Neil Etheridge.
Bahrain led 1-0 at the break but couldn’t manage to add to their tally in an entertaining second half which saw plenty of attacks made by the hosts with the visitors putting up stiff resistance.
Afterwards, Juan Antonio Pizzi, the Bahrain head coach, said he was pleased with the way his team played, enabling them to notch up their second win on the trot after they beat Kyrgyzstan, 2-0, at the same venue six days ago.
“It’s good to make it two wins in a row,” he told the GDN.
“But it’s important to work hard and keep improving before we play our first game in the upcoming second round of the 2026 Fifa World Cup Asian Qualifiers on November 16.
“Now the players will go back to their respective clubs but they will still need to work very hard so that we can be at our best next month.”
This was the fourth friendly match for Bahrain since early September. They lost, 3-1, to Kuwait in the first one in Dubai before battling to a 1-1 draw with Turkmenistan, also in Dubai.