Bahrain’s campaign in the 2023 AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup got off to a perfect start as they defeated Afghanistan 4-2 yesterday in their opening Group A match in Pattaya, Thailand.
Rashed Jamal Salem put the kingdom’s team 1-0 ahead in just the second minute of the game when he scored off a corner kick by teammate Salman Khaled Alyaqoobi.
However, despite dominating the first, 12-minute period, Bahrain went into the break without any addition to their tally.
Afghanistan came out aggressively in the second period, with Mohammad Tamim Haidari getting one past Bahrain goalkeeper Ahmed Abdulrasool to enable his side to draw level at 1-1.
Barely a minute later, Bahrain’s Mohamed Yaqoob put his side, 2-1, ahead and, after six more minutes, he scored again to make it 3-1 for the kingdom’s team as they went off for the second three-minute break.
Afghanistan went on the attack again at the start of the third and last period and they were immediately rewarded when Haidari scored his second goal of the afternoon.
But Bahrain were still leading 3-2 and, when Abdulrasool sent the ball soaring into the Afghanistan goal from within his own penalty area, the scoreboard read 4-2 in favour of the kingdom’s men.
Bahrain will now take on Saudi Arabia, who also won their first game by defeating hosts Thailand, 3-2, tomorrow before playing their last group game against Thailand on Monday.
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