Bahrain youth team went down to Morocco 2-4 in their opening match of the Under-20 Arab Football Championship in Riyadh yesterday.
In their Group 2 match at Riyadh Club Stadium, Bahrain suffered an initial setback when Morocco struck twice in the early period of the game. The Bahraini youngsters, however, regained their composure and netted two goals to draw level. Sayyed Alawi scored the first goal in the 55th minute before captain Salim Hussain converted a penalty in the 62nd minute.
Bahrain tried their best to grab lead but Morocco dashed their hopes with two more goals to seal victory.
Bahrain will now take on Madagascar on Thursday at 6pm. They play their last group match against Djibouti on Sunday at 3.30pm.
The Bahrain delegation is led by team director Shaikh Salman bin Abdulrahman Al Khalifa and includes head coach Ismail Karami, assistant coach Adel Al Nuaimi and physical fitness coach Walid Sharfuddine.
Bahrain squad: Salman Adel, Abdulla Salem, Mohammed Arhama, Ahmed Musallem, Daij Al Thawadi, Mustafa Al Salim, Salim Hussein, Hani Taha, Abdulrahman Al Obaidli, Saleh Badr, Saleh Al Zubaidi, Mohammed Abdul Qayyoum, Isa Abdulla, Mubarak Mohammed, Ibrahim Sharida, Ali Khalifa, Sayyed Jawad Alawi, Hassan Isa, Sayyed Mahdi Ali, Hussein Abdulkarim, Abdulla Al Nimr, Adel Al Romaihi and Hussein Harouna.