BAHRAIN take on Jordan this evening in their opening game of the 2019 West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) Championship in Iraq.
The match is scheduled for a 7.30pm start. It will be played at Franso Hariri Stadium in the city of Erbil.
The fixture kicks off the Bahrainis’ campaign in Group ‘B’ of the tournament, where they will also be facing Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, aside from Jordan. Group ‘A’ is composed of five teams, including hosts Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Yemen.
In a joint-Press conference yesterday featuring head coaches from Group ‘B’, Bahrain tactician Helio Sousa said the WAFF competition is an opportunity for his team to prepare for their upcoming qualifiers for the 2022 Fifa World Cup and the 2023 AFC Asian Cup.
In Group ‘A’ games already played, Iraq have two wins from two matches after first beating Lebanon 1-0 and then defeating Palestine 2-1. The Palestinians had earlier beaten Yemen 1-0, while Lebanon defeated Syria 2-1.
Following their opener tonight, Bahrain’s next match will be against Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and then they play Kuwait on Saturday.
This stage is being played in a single round-robin. Only the winner of each group will move on from this phase to lock horns in the title game. The champions will take home $100,000 in prize money, while the runners-up will get $50,000. This year’s tournament is the ninth edition of the WAFF Championship. Iraq are hosting for the first time.
Bahrain are taking part for the fourth time. They are looking to finish higher than third, which was their best of the competition to date. They claimed that placing in the previous edition of the championship, which took place in 2014 in Doha.
BAHRAIN SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Sayed Shubbar Alawi, Sayed Mohammed Jaffar, Hamad Al Dossari.
Defenders: Ahmed Bughammar, Sayed Mahdi Baqer, Mohammed Adel, Waleed Al Hayam, Ahmed Nabeel, Mohammed Abdul Wahab, Ali Madan.
Midfielders: Abdulwahab Al Malood, Isa Jihad, Kameel Al Aswad, Mohammed Al Hardan, Sayed Dhiya Saeed, Abdulla Al Hazza’a, Jassim Al Shaikh, Ahmed Abdulla, Ali Haram.
Strikers: Mohammed Al Rumaihi, Sami Al Hossaini, Ismail Abdullatif, Isa Moussa.