BAHRAIN’S under-23 Olympic football team scored a last-gasp equaliser to escape with a 2-2 draw against their counterparts from Syria last night in an international friendly match played at Khalifa Sports City Stadium in Isa Town.
Defender Faisal Ghazi fired home in the seventh minute of stoppage time to level the scores right before the final whistle.
The hosts had earlier taken the lead in the contest through Sayed Hashim Isa who scored at the half-hour mark. His opener was cancelled out, however, by Syrian forward Abdulrahman Barakat just 10 minutes later to send the match into half-time interval deadlocked at 1-1.
Early in the second half, the visitors then took the lead after with a 59th-minute effort from striker Alaa Edeen Dali, and that almost proved to be the match winner if not for Ghazi’s late heroics.
Preparations
Last night’s friendly was the Olympic team’s third in two months after also playing a pair of tune-up games against Iraq in September.
The Bahrainis, who are coached by Samir Ben Chammam, are using the friendlies as part of their preparations for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Championship, which takes place in January in Thailand.
Ben Chammam started a first 11 that included Yousif Mansoor at goal; Ghazi, Hussain Alkhayyat, Hussain Jameel,Hamza Ahmed Jassim and skipper Hamad Shamsan in defence; Ahmed Saleh, Adnan Fawaz and Abdulrahman Ahmedi in midfield; and with Mohammed Marhoon and Isa in a strike-partnership.
The Bahrainis will continue their preparations for their upcoming AFC competition in the coming months. They will be playing in the tournament’s preliminary round in a tough Group ‘A’, where they will be facing continental giants Australia and Iraq as well as hosts Thailand.
It will be the first time Bahrain are playing in the AFC Under-23 Championship.