FOOTBALL – ISA Town and Manama both advanced last night to the round of 16 of the 2025-26 His Majesty the King’s Cup – Bahrain’s richest annual football tournament.
The two sides from the kingdom’s first division made it through with narrow victories in their respective second-round matches yesterday, played at separate venues.
Isa Town posted a hard-earned 3-2 victory over Etehad Al Reef at Hamad Town Stadium, while Manama defeated East Riffa 5-3 in a thrilling penalty shootout at Al Ahli Club Stadium in Mahooz. Their game had ended deadlocked at 1-1 at the end of regular time.
With the results, both teams set up exciting match-ups in the last 16. Isa Town next face a mammoth task against reigning Nasser bin Hamad Bahrain Premier Football League champions Muharraq, while Manama will be taking on perennial title contenders Riffa.
In Isa Town’s triumph, Talal Sabt and Ali Al Dosari were both on target in the first half, and then Nasser Al Sabbah added their third after the break.
With the commanding three-goal cushion, it appeared that Isa Town were cruising to the win, but Etehad Al Reef made things interesting and rattled their opponents’ nerves in the game’s closing minutes.
Substitute forward Mohamed Kabore led their resurgence with two goals in the last 10 minutes of regulation. But despite their late effort, Etehad Al Reef could not find the equaliser, and Isa Town marched through.
Meanwhile, Manama and East Riffa needed to go to spot kicks to decide their contest after 90 minutes could not separate the two teams. Walisson Alex Souza Silva put East Riffa ahead after only five minutes but it did not take long for Pablo Augusto de Carvalho to bring Manama back on level terms.
Neither side found the net over the remainder of regular time, setting the stage for the shootout. There, Carvalho put Manama in front with their opening effort, and then goalkeeper Mohammed Ali made a decisive save on East Riffa’s ensuing penalty, attempted by Hussain Alkhayyat.
Manama then converted all their spot kicks to seal the win, with Isa Ghuloom, Nemanja Nikolic, Hamza Aljubn, and Younes Hasan completing their perfect session.
In other match-ups in the round of 16, HM the King’s Cup holders Al Khaldiya take on Al Hala, who beat Um Al Hassam 2-0 in their round two clash on Sunday night, while Sitra take on Al Ittifaq, who defeated Al Ettihad 5-1 in Saturday’s other fixture.
Also in the ensuing stage, A’ali face off with Al Najma, Bahrain Club take on Hidd, Al Shabab clash with Malkiya, and Budaiya lock horns with Al Ahli.
Khaldiya won last season’s HM the King’s Cup after edging past Sitra 3-2 in the tournament final, played in April earlier this year.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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