BAHRAIN’S senior men’s national football team have departed for the Czech Republic for an overseas camp in preparation for their upcoming major international tournaments, including the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup 2019.
The nationals kicked off their training programme locally last week and are continuing it under the supervision of head coach Miroslav Soukup.
Prior to travelling to Prague, Soukup reduced his original list of 34 players on the national team pool to 24 for their camp.
The new roster features Sayed Dhiya Saeed, who plays professionally in Kuwait; Sayed Shubbar Alawi, Kumail Abdulla, Ahmed Abdulla, Ibrahim Habeeb, Ali Madan, Mohammed Sahwan, (Al Najma); Abdulla Yusuf (East Riffa); Ahmed Juma’a, Jamal Rashid, Isa Moosa, Abdulla Abdo, (Muharraq); Ali Isa, Hussain Jameel (Al Shabab); Abo Baker Adem, Kumail Al Aswad, Ali Haram (Riffa); Sayed Redha Isa, Yousif Habeeb (Malkiya); Mahdi Abduljabbar (Ettihad); Jassim Al Shaikh (Al Ahli); Ahmed Bu Ghammar (Al Hidd); and Ashraf Waheed and Ahmed Moosa (Manama).
Following their overseas camp, Bahrain have scheduled four exciting friendly matches in September and October.
They will kick things off with a game against their counterparts from the Philippines on September 6, followed by a game against continental giants China on September 10.
The Bahrainis will then host another pair of friendlies the following month against tough regional opponents. Their first will be against Syria on October 11 and then with Palestine on October 16.
The Bahrainis have been drawn in Group ‘A’ for next year’s Asian Cup alongside tournament hosts UAE, India and Thailand. Group ‘B’ comprises Australia, Jordan, Palestine and Syria. Group ‘C’ features China, South Korea, Kyrgyzstan and the Philippines. Group ‘D’ includes Iran, Iraq, Vietnam and Yemen.
Group ‘E’ is composed of North Korea, Lebanon, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Group ‘F’ includes Japan, Oman, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
The AFC Asian Cup 2019 will be Bahrain’s sixth participation in the continental showcase.
Their best finish was in 2004, when they claimed fourth place overall out of 16 participating teams.
In the previous edition in 2015 held in Australia, the Bahrainis failed to make it past the group stage after losing two of their three games.