Bahrain have been eliminated from the Asian qualifiers for the Fifa World Cup 2026.
The kingdom’s senior men’s football national team suffered an agonising 0-2 defeat to Gulf neighbours Saudi Arabia this evening at the National Stadium in Riffa – officially dashing their hopes of keeping their bid alive for an historic berth in next year’s showcase competition.
Goals on either side of half-time scored by Saudi’s Musab Al Juwayr and substitute Abdulrahman Alobud were enough to separate the two sides in the contest, which was both teams' penultimate assignment in this stage.
The hosts had a number of near-chances after the break and were unlucky not to find the net.
Following 1-0 wins by Australia over Japan and Indonesia against China in today's other Group C fixtures, Bahrain stayed fifth on the six-team standings heading into their concluding qualifier against China on Tuesday next week.
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