BAHRAIN will be eyeing a place in the football quarter-finals of the 18th Asian Games in Jakarta-Palembang today when they take on Vietnam at Patriot Stadium, starting at 3.30pm Bahrain time.
A victory will see Bahrain face either Palestine or Syria, who clash in another last-16 round game today.
Bahrain, coached by Tunisian Samir Ben Chamam, have come a long way in this tournament following a 0-6 routing by South Korea in the opening match.
Bahrain held Kyrgyzstan 2-2 in their second match and then stunned Malaysia 3-2 in the group stage decider to snatch one of the best third-place tickets into the last 16 round with four points from three matches.
Bahrain will look to repeat their victory in the International Under-21 Championship in Indonesia earlier this year. Bahrain took part in that event as part of their preparations for the Under-23 Asian Cup which also serves as qualifying event for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Elsewhere, Abdullah Faour will kick off his taekwondo campaign when he faces Filipino opponent Arven Alcantara in the under-68kg category in the round of 16 at 6.30am Bahrain tim.
Faour has been training under the supervision of national coach Sami Mohammed since his arrival in Jakarta about six days ago.
Meanwhile, Shaikh Mohammed bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, member of the Board of Directors of Bahrain Olympic Committee, met members of the Bahrain delegation and wished them well in the coming events.