BAHRAIN bowed to Oman 1-2 last night in an international friendly match played in Muscat.
Sami Al Hussaini scored the lone goal for the nationals.
The tune-up was a part of their ongoing preparations for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup, which is scheduled to take place in January of next year in the UAE.
Yesterday’s match was Bahrain’s fifth friendly over the past couple of months. In September, they faced off with the visiting Philippines and China, and then last month took on Syria and Myanmar.
They were also scheduled to play Kuwait last week in Kuwait City, but the game was called off at the last minute by the Kuwaiti federation due to unstable weather conditions.
Bahrain are next scheduled to play a friendly against Tajikistan on December 20.
Bahrain head coach Miroslav Soukup had called on 26 players for their preparations over the past weeks. They included Al Hussaini, Sayed Dhiya Saeed, Sayed Mahdi Baqer, Sayed Shubbar Alawi, Abdulkareem Fardan, Ashraf Waheed, Sayed Redha Isa, Ahmad Merza, Hamad Shamsan, Ahmed Bu Ghammar, Waleed Al Hayyam, Ahmed Juma’a, Ahmed Abdulla, Abdulwahab Ali, Jassim Al Shaikh, Kumail Al Aswad, Mohammed Al Hardan, Ali Madan, Ahmed Moosa, Jamal Rashid, Mohammed Marhoon, Abdulla Abdo, Ahmed Al Sheroogi, Abdulla Yousif, Mohammed Al Romaihi and Mahdi Hemaidan.
The AFC Asian Cup 2019 will be Bahrain’s sixth participation in the continental showcase.
They have been drawn in Group ‘A’ for the competition alongside tournament hosts the 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.