Poised within touching distance of their first ever Nasser bin Hamad Premier League title, Manama will play five-time champions Al Ahli in their final, must-win game of the season tonight at the Khalifa Sports City Stadium.
Manama are currently level on 40 points with 34-time title winners Muharraq but third in the 12-team table because of goal difference behind leaders Al Khaldiya, who have 41 points.
However, Muharraq have no more games left so, if Manama win tonight, their points tally would jump to 43.
That, in turn, will mean that Khaldiya, who play their final game of the season against Bahrain Club – who are 11th in the table with just 18 points – on Thursday will need to win that match to secure their first ever title in just their second season in the league.
Al Ahli, meanwhile, who are in sixth position with 30 points, are out of contention and will only be playing for pride – and trying to ensure that Manama fail in their bid to secure their first ever championship win.
Led ably by Ahmed Musa Hassan, Manama have been consistent all season with their 11 victories from 21 matches thus far, second only to Khaldiya, who have 12 wins from the same number of games.
And they have lost just three games in the 2022-23 season, the best showing, by far, by any team. Khaldiya are second on that list, with four losses.
But it is the seven drawn games that Manama have featured in that have set them back. Khaldiya, by comparison, have drawn just five.
In fact, until late last month, Manama were leading the table with 38 points, with Muharraq just a couple of points behind and Khaldiya lagging much further back.
But, then, Muharraq held them to a 1-1 draw at the end of April and, last week, East Riffa did the same, meaning that Manama managed to get just two points from those two games.
Khaldiya, on the other hand, have won their last three games, garnering nine points to leapfrog Manama and Muharraq into the lead.
Meanwhile, Al Ahli, captained by Abbas Saeed Ali, started their season off well before suffering a string of successive losses until they finally regained their winning form.
But, after winning two games on the trot, they played out three successive draws in the lead-up to this game meaning that they have their current tally from seven wins, five losses and nine drawn games.
Manama will doubtless be hoping that, when they take the field tonight, they are able to add another defeat to Al Ahli’s loss column.
But, even if Manama win, they will have to wait four more days to find out if a dream, that has waited since 1956-57 – the first season of the league – to be realised, will finally come true after 66 years.
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