FOOTBALL – Bahrain’s senior men’s football national team posted a 3-1 victory over Slovenian club NK Sobec Lesce last night in a friendly match played as part of their overseas training camp in Maribor, Slovenia.
Three players were on target for the nationals. Omar Saber scored their opening goal in the 21st minute, and then substitute Hussain Abdulkarim added the second in the 61st. Abdulla Al Subaie applied the nail in the coffin with a goal in the first minute of second-half stoppage time.
The game was the national team’s second for their programme in Europe, which is being conducted under the supervision of head coach Dragan Talajic and his staff. It was a late addition to their schedule, which originally had them playing just two games.
The Bahrainis had previously suffered a 1-3 defeat to Croatian First League outfit NK Istra 1961 in another friendly last week. They are scheduled to play one more against Slovenian First League outfit NK Primorje on Tuesday. It is scheduled for a 6.30pm kick-off, Bahrain time.
Bahrain’s Maribor camp is scheduled to conclude on Thursday, with the team slated to return to the island the following day.
Talajic has 28 players in this gathering. He fielded a first 11 yesterday that was completely different from the side that kicked off their opening tune-up contest.
Between the posts was Mohammed Al Gharabli, while joining him in the starting line-up were Ahmed Bughammar, Vincent Emmanuel, Sayed Mahdi Baqer, Abdulla Al Subaie, Jassim Al Shaikh, Hussain Al Eker, Ahmed Abdulhameed, Hussain Jameel, Ahmed Al Sherooqi, and Omar Saber.
The rest of the team includes Ebrahim Luthfallah, Abdulkarim Al Fardan, Ebrahim Al Khattal, Abdulla Al Khalasi, Hamad Shamsan, Waleed Al Hayyam, Amine Benaddi, Mahdi Humaidan, Ali Madan, Komail Al Aswad, Sayed Dhiya Saeed, Mahdi Abduljabbar, Sayed Mahmood Al Mosawi, Hazza Ali, Ahmed Dhiya, and Yousef Habib.
Bahrain are in their camp gearing up for a number of competitions, headlined by the Fifa Arab Cup 2025 this December in Doha, Qatar.
The nationals must first play a qualifying game in November against Djibouti to secure their spot in the Fifa Arab Cup’s group stage. The date and venue of the single-game contest has yet to be announced.
Should the Bahrainis win, they will be in Group D for the tournament proper, where they will join Algeria, Iraq, and either Lebanon or Sudan.
Group A features competition hosts Qatar, Tunisia, Syria or South Sudan, and Palestine or Libya; Group B is composed of Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Oman or Somalia, and Yemen or Comoros; and Group C includes Egypt, Jordan, the UAE, and either Kuwait or Mauritania.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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