Bahrain’s senior men’s football national team defeated Slovenian First League outfit NK Primorje Ajdovscina 2-1 last night in a friendly match played in Maribor, Slovenia.
Ebrahim Al Khattal helped lift the Bahrainis in the contest by scoring both their goals. He opened their account in the sixth minute, and then was on target once again just nine minutes later to give the nationals a rousing start.
They held on the rest of the way to secure their second triumph in their three tune-up games held as part of their ongoing overseas training camp in Europe.
It added to their 3-1 triumph against Slovenian club NK Sobec Lesce, which was their second fixture. They had earlier lost their opening assignment 1-3 against Croatian First League outfit NK Istra 1961.
Bahrain head coach Dragan Talajic fielded a starting 11 yesterday that included Ebrahim Luthfallah in goal, Al Khattal, Komail Al Aswad, Mahdi Abduljabbar, Ali Madan, Mahdi Humaidan, Abdulla Al Khalasi, Amine Benaddi, Waleed Al Hayyam, Vincent Emmanuel, and skipper Sayed Dhiya Saeed.
The Croatian tactician opted to go back to his regular starting line-up after giving a chance for the national team’s other players in their previous game.
Following yesterday’s friendly, the nationals are scheduled to wrap up their camp tomorrow before flying back to the kingdom on Friday.
Talajic has 28 players in their two-week Slovenian gathering. The others on the roster are Ahmed Bughammar, Sayed Mahdi Baqer, Abdulla Al Subaie, Jassim Al Shaikh, Hussain Al Eker, Ahmed Abdulhameed, Hussain Jameel, Ahmed Al Sherooqi, Omar Saber, Hussain Abdulkarim, Hamad Shamsan, Sayed Mahmood Al Mosawi, Hazza Ali, Ahmed Dhiya, Yousef Habib, and goalkeepers Abdulkarim Al Fardan and Mohammed Al Gharabli.
Bahrain are in their camp gearing up for their upcoming 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 tournament proper’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 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.
Bahrain’s senior men’s football national team have had a mixed 2025 so far. They kicked the year off by winning the 26th Gulf Cup – their second-ever title in the history of the regional competition – but then followed it up with a heart-breaking exit from the Asian qualifiers for the Fifa World Cup 2026.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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