FOOTBALL – BAHRAIN’S senior men’s football national team face their counterparts from Somalia tonight in an international friendly match, set to be played at the National Stadium in Riffa.
The game is scheduled for a 6.30pm kick-off, and it will be held behind closed doors, with no fans in attendance or any television coverage.
The contest is part of both teams’ preparations for their upcoming single-game qualifying fixtures for the Fifa Arab Cup 2025. Bahrain will be facing Djibouti while Somalia will be taking on Oman. Both clashes will be held at separate venues in Doha, Qatar, on November 26.
The winners will secure their berths in the group stage of the Fifa Arab Cup 2025.
The nationals completed their preparations last night for this evening’s friendly. They trained at the National Stadium under the supervision of head coach Dragan Talajic and his staff.
The team practice was attended by Bahrain Football Association (BFA) vice-president Shaikh Khalifa bin Ali Al Khalifa and BFA board member Shaikh Salman bin Abdulrahman Al Khalifa.
The Bahrainis have gathered for over a week as they gear up for their head-to-head with Djibouti. Talajic has had a roster of 27 players in training. The team includes Waleed Al Hayyam, Amine Benaddi, Abdulla Al Khalasi, Mohammed Jassim Marhoon, Mahdi Humaidan, Ali Madan, Sayed Dhiya Saeed, Komail Al Aswad, Mahdi Abduljabbar, Hussain Al Eker, Ahmed Bughammar, Vincent Emmanuel, Sayed Mahdi Sharaf, Sayed Al Mosawi, Hazza Ali, Mohammed Adel, Sayed Redha Isa, Jassim Al Shaikh, Omar Saber, Hussain Abdulkarim, Sayed Hashem Issa, Mohammed Al Rumaihi, Ebrahim Al Khattal, Abdulla Al Hashash, and goalkeepers Ebrahim Luthfallah, Mohammed Algharabli, and Omar Salem.
The Somalians, nicknamed The Ocean Stars, have a 23-player squad getting ready for their Fifa Arab Cup qualifier.
Head coach Yusuf Ali Nur has called up Abel Gigle, Faysal Abubaka, Abdulle Abdullahi, Ali Mohammed, Mohamud Ali, Ahmed Abdullahi, Yonis Abdirizak, Ilyas Akram, Omar Jama, Abdirahman Sharif, Mohamed Omar, Yasir Abdiqadir, Abdulsamad Abdullahi, Handwalla Mohamed, Sakariya Hassan, Yusuf Ali, Issa Adam, Farhan Mohamed, Ali Mussa, Mubashir Abdi, and goalkeepers Abdirahman Jama, Ibrahim Ahmed, and Said Aleley.
Bahrain’s match against Djibouti will be held at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in the Qatari capital. It is scheduled for a 4pm kick-off, Bahrain time. Somalia’s contest with Oman will be played at Doha’s Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium.
Should the Bahrainis book their seat in the Fifa Arab Cup, they will be in Group D where they will join defending champions Algeria, Iraq, and either Lebanon or Sudan, who also play in a qualifier on November 26.
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 the UAE, Egypt, Jordan, and either Kuwait or Mauritania.
This year’s Fifa Arab Cup will be its 11th edition and second under its current format organised by Fifa. The last edition in 2021, also held in Doha, saw the Algerians claim the title after defeating Tunisia 2-0 after extra-time. Bahrain bowed out in the group stage, after finishing their Group A campaign with just one point from three matches – having drawn with Iraq 0-0 but also losing to Qatar 0-1 and Oman 0-3.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
&uuid=(email))