Australia qualified for the quarter-finals after yesterday’s draw finishing top of Group A.
In the other Group A match, Iraq were held to a 1-1 draw by Thailand, who joined Australia in the quarter-finals.
With just three points separating all four teams in Group A after the opening two games, Australia entered the contest knowing their place in the knockout round was far from secure despite their position at the summit.
And they showed they were certainly focused on the task at hand, taking the lead in the 34th minute when a lovely slide-rule pass by Reno Piscopo picked out the clever run of Ramy Najjarine, who got in behind the opposition defence and made no mistake finishing past Ammar Mohamed.
Response
Right on the stroke of halftime, Bahrain issued a response when Mohamed Marhoon lined up a freekick on the edge of the area and expertly curled an effort around the wall and caught Glover off guard as the ball nestled into the back of the net.
Remarkably, Bahrain showed plenty of endeavour in the second half and gave the Olyroos a fair share of problems, and they will probably be aggrieved that they were not awarded a penalty late on when Marhoon looked to have been clipped from behind by Keanu Baccus in the area, only for both the referee and VAR to be unmoved by their appeals.
In the end, Australia were able to see out the remainder of the contest and claim the point that seals their place at the top of Group A, as well as a quarter-final meeting with whoever finishes second in Group B today.
Bahrain coach Samir Chammam said that the team had shown tremendous improvement after their loss to Thailand in the opener. They fought hard in the matches that followed and could have emerged successful had they not missed the services of some key players due to injury, added Chammam.