Manama: Bahrain put in a phenomenal display to earn a 2-0 victory over the Philippines in the fifth game of the 2018 World Cup and 2019 Asia Cup qualifiers at Bahrain National Stadium last night.
The win sees Bahrain in fourth place with six points from five games while Philippines are third with seven points from the same number of games in Group “H”
Group leaders North Korea also overcame last-placed Yemen 1-0 to extend their points tally to 13 in five games. Yemen are yet to open their account.
The top team in each of the eight groups will qualify for the third round and also gain direct entry to the 2019 Asia Cup along with the four best second-placed teams.
The remaining three teams in the groups will continue to battle for a place in the 2019 Asia cup.
Batista had no tactical change in his formation and depended on the same 4-1-4-1 approach.
Sayed Mohammed Jaffar was in goal while Rashed Al Hooti, Mohammed Hassan, Hussain Baba and And Abdulla Al Hazaa played in defence with Sayed Adnan playing in front of them as a defensive midfielder. Abdulla Yasser, Sayed Dhiya, Isa Moosa and Sami Al Husaini played in midfield as Ismael Abdelatif went up as Bahrian’s lone striker.
Philippines coach Thomas Dooley fielded Neil Etheridge in goal with Stephan Palla, Sato Daisuke, Amani Aguinaldo and Martin Steuble in defence. Mauel Ott, Kevin Ingreso, Stephan Schrock, Patrick Reichelt and Jerry Lucena played in midfield while Phil Younghusband played forward.
The first half saw Bahrain attack their opponents viciously with their first attempt being a penalty appeal in the 15th minute when Abdelatif was brought down in the penalty area. The appeal was however denied by the referee.
Abdelatif missed a cruicail chance to score the opener in the 20th minute as he received Al Hussainy’s pass only to put in over the bar.
The 36th minute of the game saw Adnan play a beautiful through pass to put Abdulla Yasser in a one-on-one position with Philippines goalkeeper Etheridge but failed to convert.
The second half only showed a much better display from the Bahrain team as the team was eager to score.
Eight minutes into the second half, Abdelatif was able to break the deadlock and score Bahrain’s first goal of the match as he received a pass in an open net after Al Hussainy dribbled his way into the box.
The Philippines came close to an equaliser four minutes later but Younghusband’s efforts struck the post and fell straight into the goalkeeper’s hands.
Adnan managed to double Bahrain’s lead in the 61st minute from a free kick on the edge of the box. His efforts ended on the right side of the keeper in the back of the net.
Philippines tried to get back into the game with no real threat on goal as Bahrain’s defence was alert to break off their opponents’ attacks early on.
Bahrain will fly to North Korea to face the group leaders in the next round of the qualifiers on November 12.
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