FOOTBALL – BAHRAIN hearts were broken last night after the kingdom’s senior men’s national football team were eliminated from the Asian qualifiers for the Fifa World Cup 2026.
The Bahrainis suffered a tough 0-2 loss to Gulf neighbours Saudi Arabia at the National Stadium in Riffa – officially dashing their hopes of keeping their bid alive to secure a place in next year’s showcase competition.
Goals on either side of half-time by Saudi’s Musab Al Juwayr and substitute Abdulrahman Alobud proved enough to separate the two sides in the contest, which was both teams’ penultimate assignment in this stage of continental qualification.
Following 1-0 wins by Australia over Japan in Perth and Indonesia against China in Jakarta in other Group C fixtures yesterday, Bahrain stayed fifth on the six-team standings in their division and head into their concluding assignment against the Chinese next week with only pride to play for.
“I’m really sorry for Bahrain,” national team head coach Dragan Talajic said during his post-game Press conference last night. “We wanted to give the people a big gift for Eid, but we were unlucky and we did not do it.
“Thank you to everyone for supporting us, we appreciate it, and we will continue to fight for the kingdom.”
Talajic fielded a starting 11 yesterday that featured Ebrahim Luthfallah in goal; Amine Benaddi, Waleed Al Hayyam, Hamad Shamsan, and Abdulla Al Khalasi in defence; Mohammed Jassim Marhoon, Komail Al Aswad, Mahdi Humaidan, and skipper Sayed Dhiya Saeed in midfield; and the strike pairing of Mahdi Abduljabbar and Ahmed Al Sherooqi.
Saudi were the aggressors at the start and they opened their account in the 16th minute when Al Juwayr found the net from close range. He was on the receiving end of a brilliant cross from the left delivered by Saudi skipper Salem Al Dawsari and then made no mistake with his low volley from the right of goal.
Bahrain had limited chances in the first half – their best coming from an Al Aswad shot from distance in the 25th minute that flew over the crossbar.
After the restart, the hosts upped the pressure and were more threatening in attack. But the visitors appeared to strike again following a mad scramble at the goal line in the 59th minute that resulted in the ball making its way into the net. An offside was called by the linesman, however, momentarily saving Bahrain from the two-goal deficit.
Al Hayyam then hit a volley in the 63rd minute that went just over the crossbar, and Marhoon struck the left post five minutes on following a pass from the right supplied by substitute Ebrahim Al Khattal and flicked towards Marhoon by Abduljabbar.
A Vincent Emmanuel shot that was on target was then stopped by Saudi’s Nawaf Al Aqidi, who also blocked a shot by Abduljabbar off the ensuing rebound. Al Aswad then shot over the crossbar in the same sequence, making for another unlucky opportunity.
Saudi finally doubled their advantage and virtually sealed the win in the 78th minute through Alobud. He sprinted towards goal following a perfectly timed pass by teammate Ali Majrashi, and then fired home with one touch past Luthfallah.
The Bahrainis tried valiantly until the final whistle to fight back, but could not finish their chances.
With the result, the nationals stayed on six points on the Group C table, tied with China but boasting a better goal difference.
Japan stayed in first place with 20 points despite suffering their first loss of this round of continental qualification. Australia improved to 16 points but will face Saudi in their concluding game to officially confirm the second team from this pool that will join the Japanese as direct qualifiers for next year’s Fifa World Cup finals. The Saudis stayed in contention after improving to 13 points, and are followed by Indonesia with 12.
Bahrain’s concluding game against China, which will have no bearing on the qualifiers, will be held on Tuesday at Chongqing Longxing Football Stadium. Saudi host Australia at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah that same day, while Japan welcome Indonesia to Suita City Football Stadium in Suita.
There are three groups in all in this third round of Asian qualifiers. Group A features Iran, Qatar, Uzbekistan, the UAE, Kyrgyzstan and North Korea; while Group B is composed of South Korea, Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Palestine and Kuwait.
The top two finishers from each group punch their tickets to the Fifa World Cup 2026 finals. The third and fourth-placed squads will compete in a fourth round of Asian qualifiers.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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