FOOTBALL – A QATAR own goal in the first minute of second-half stoppage time gifted Bahrain a tight 1-0 victory last night in the second U-17 Gulf Cup, currently being played in the Qatari capital of Doha.
The hosts’ Hamed Fadi inadvertently sent the ball into his own net as he slid to try and clear a short cross from the left delivered by Bahraini substitute Ebrahim Talafat. Fadi made enough contact with the ball to push it into the net past teammate and goalkeeper Ali Ismail, and just a split-second before Bahrain’s Husain Zuhair was to pounce on the pass.
The late winner split the two sides in the contest and it gave the kingdom’s youth men’s football squad their first triumph of the 10-nation Gulf Football Federation tournament. They had opened their Group A campaign in the preliminary round with a narrow 1-2 loss against the UAE last week.
The nationals, being guided in the competition by Bahraini tactician Khalid Hassan, will hope to continue their winning ways when they return to the pitch for their next assignment against China on Thursday, scheduled for an 8pm kick-off. They then complete this phase against Oman on October 28 at 5.45pm. Both times are Bahrain.
Group B is composed of defending champions Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Yemen, and Egypt.
The preliminaries are scheduled to continue until October 29, after which the top two teams from each group advance to the semi-finals on November 1. The tournament will conclude with the final on November 4.
Aside from competing in the U-17 Gulf Cup, Bahrain’s youth men’s national team are also gearing up for the qualifiers of the AFC U17 Asian Cup 2027, to be held next month.
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