Bahrain beach soccer team claimed a tough 4-3 victory over Egypt in a friendly match at the Bahrain Football Association (BFA) ground yesterday.
The match was played as the second and final friendly between the two sides. Egypt prepare for the African Qualifiers while Bahrain gear up for their participation in Asia Super Cup in China in August and the Asian Beach Games in Vietnam in September.
The match saw a quick start by the Egyptians who took the lead through a well-placed shot by Abou Sirei but Bahrain, managed by Portugese coach Joao Ferreira, wasted no time finding an equaliser through Rashid Jamal.
The first half ended 1-1 and both teams failed to put in a performance worthy of a win.
The second half saw Egypt lose concentration as Bahrain’s Ayoob Naseeb scored his first goal of the night to give Bahrain the lead.
Bahrain capitalised well on Egypt’s errors as Jamal intercepted a ball from the Egyptian defender and headed to a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper and gave Bahrain a 3-1 lead.
Egypt soon managed to score a second goal to tighten the gap on Bahrain only for Bahrain’s Abdulla Al Arabi to score a fourth taking his team back to a two-goal lead.
Egypt scored a third goal in the dying minutes of the game but Bahrain cleverly stood strong in defence to deny their opponents any more chance.
The match was attended by officials from the BFA and the Asian Football Confederation as well as the Egyptian embassy.
Also in attendance was Egyptian Football Association member and Egyptian Beach Soccer supervisor Khalid Latif who flew in last night.