Bahrain lost to Palestine 2-0 in an international football friendly match played last night at Bahrain National Stadium in Isa Town.
The match was part of both teams’ preparations for their next qualifying matches for the Asian Football Cup Championship 2019 set to be held in the UAE.
In the Asian Cup, Bahrain will take on Turkmenistan on June 13 in Turkmenistan in Group E second round. Bahrain drew 0-0 against Singapore in Manama, while Turkmenistan defeated Taiwan 3-1 in the other match. The top two teams will qualify for the Asian Cup 2019 finals.
Bahrain started with Sayed Mohammed Jaffar as goalkeeper along with Sayed Redha Isa, Abo Baker Adem, Waleed Al Hayyam, Ahmed Abdulla, Kumail Al Aswad, Sayed Dheya Saeed, Abdulla Abdo, Ali Madan, Ismael Abdullatif and Mohammed Al Rumaihi.
Chances
They wasted a number of chances in the first half. Their biggest chance to score came in the 11th minute when Mohammed Al Rumaihi sent a powerful shot but was saved by Palestine goalkeeper Rami Hamada.
The first half ended goalless 0-0.
In the second half, Bahrain coach Miroslav Soukup made four substitutions, sending in Jamal Rashid, Isa Al Barri, Hisham Mansoor and Mohammed Al Tayyeb for Mohammed Al Rumaihi, Ismael Abdullatif, Abdulla Abdo and Ahmed Abdulla.
However, the Palestinians managed to score two goals.
The first goal was scored in the 58th minute by striker Khalid Salim who passed Bahrain defender Abo Baker Adem and netted the ball into the left side of goalkeeper Jaffar. Palestine made it 2-0 in the 83rd minute through Sameh Maraba.
Soukup will reduce the national team players list from 29 to 23 before leaving to Turkmenistan on June 11 to face Turkmenistan two days later.