BAHRAIN take on the Philippines tonight in an international friendly match at the National Stadium in Riffa.
The tune-up is scheduled for a 7pm kick-off. Entrance is free for spectators.
Both teams are using the game as part of their preparations for upcoming competitions, including the AFC Asian Cup 2019, which is scheduled to be held in January in the UAE.
The visiting Filipinos have been in Bahrain for a couple of days and have been preparing for the match. They practised last night at the National Stadium under the supervision of recently signed Irish coach Scott Cooper.
Bahrain’s national team followed with their training session right after conducted by coach Miroslav Soukup.
Following this coming week’s friendlies, Bahrain have two more lined up for next month, first against Syria and then with Palestine.
The nationals had recently returned from the Czech Republic where they had a camp supervised by Soukup.
Inaugural
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.
Bahrain will be featuring in the inaugural match of the Asian Cup in the 43,000-capacity Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi. It will on January 5 against hosts UAE.
SQUADS
PHILIPPINES: Neil Etheridge, Patrick Deyto, Louie Michael Casas, Nathanael Ace Villanueva, Hikaru Minegishi, Paul Mulders, Manuel Ott, Mike Rigoberto Ott, Patrick Reichelt, Adam Tull, Dylan de Bruycker, Stephan Schrock, Luke Woodland, Amani Aguinaldo, Carlos de Murga, Junior Munoz, Daisuke Sato, Stephan Palla, Curt Jordan Dizon, Angel Guirado, Phil Younghusband, Fitch Arboleda and Jovin Bedic.
BAHRAIN: Sayed Dhiya Saeed, Sayed Shubbar Alawi, Kumail Abdulla, Ahmed Abdulla, Ibrahim Habeeb, Ali Madan, Mohammed Sahwan, Abdulla Yusuf, Ahmed Jumaa, Jamal Rashid, Isa Moosa, Abdulla Abdo, Ali Isa, Hussain Jameel, Abo Baker Adem, Kumail Al Aswad, Ali Haram, Sayed Redha Isa, Yousif Habeeb, Mahdi Abduljabbar, Jassim Al Shaikh, Ahmed Bu Ghammar, Ashraf Waheed and Ahmed Moosa.