Bahrain will take on Taiwan in the third round of Group ‘E’ match of the Asian Cup 2019 qualifying stage at 7pm tonight at Bahrain National Stadium in Isa Town.
Another Group ‘E’ match is also scheduled for today as Singapore host Turkmenistan at 2.30pm (Bahrain time).
Bahrain are currently on top of the group with four points after they drew with Singapore 0-0 in Bahrain and defeated Turkmenistan 2-1 in Ashgabat. On the other hand, Taiwan have three points after losing their opening match against Turkmenistan 3-1 in Taipei and defeating Singapore 2-1 in Singapore.
Bahrain will be looking for a second victory to keep them on top of the group and close in on qualifying for the Asian Cup 2019 finals in the UAE.
Home team coach Miroslav Soukup prepared well for this game with an internal training camp where he focused on tactics and physical fitness training.
Both Bahrain and Taiwan concluded their training session yesterday at Bahrain National Stadium. Bahrain Football Association (BFA) president Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa visited the Bahrain team training practice where he urged the players to clinch three points for their team.
A total of 24 players attended last night’s practice. They are Sayed Mohammed Jaffar, Jamal Rashid, Waleed Al Hayyam, Abdulla Abdo, Ismael Abdullatif, Abdulla Yousif, Hisham Mansoor, Ali Habeeb, Ashraf Waheed, Sayed Redha Isa, Abdulkareem Fardan, Jassim Al Shaikh, Ali Madan, Ahmed Abdulla, Kumail Abdulla, Abo Baker Adem, Sayed Mujtaba Alawi, Ali Hassan Saeed, Sami Al Hussaini, Mahdi Abduljabbar, Sayed Mohsin Ali, Hamad Shamsan, Kumail Al Aswad and Sayed Dheya Saeed.
Draw
Taiwan, who arrived in Bahrain on Friday, are hoping to get at least a draw which according to team manager Liang Chen will be a “good result”.
Their team consists of Shin-An Shih, Jian-Lian Lee, Ting-Yang Chen, Pin-Hsien Lee, Yaki Aithamy Yen, Ho-Shen Yen, Mao Li, Chien-Hsun Lin, Hao-Wei Chen, Chang-Lun Lin, Chun-Chin Wu, Chih-Hao Wen, Chun-Hung Kao, De-Cai Su, Yi-Wei Chen, Pei-Lun Wei, Po-Liang Chen, Yu-Hung Chiu, Hsiang-Wei Lee, En-Le Chu, Che-Yu Lin, Ting-Han Yen and Shao-Yu Pai.