Manama: Bahrain are all set to face North Korea in the eighth round of the 2018 World Cup and 2019 Asia Cup qualifier in Pyongyang tomorrow, starting at 9.30am Bahrain time.
Bahrain, coached by Argentinian Sergio Batista, are in fourth place with six points from five games while North Korea are group leaders with 13 points from six games.
The top teams in each of the eight groups will qualify for the third round and also gain direct entry to 2019 Asia Cup along with the four best second-placed teams.
The remaining three teams in the group will continue to battle for a place in the 2019 Asia Cup.
Batista took 25 players along with him to the trip to the North Korean capital.
The Argentinian called up Sayed Mohammed Jaffar, Hussein Baba, Abdulwahab Ali, Waleed AlHayam, Abdulla Abdo, Ismaeel Abdelatif and Mohammed Al Hardan from league champions Muharraq.
Al Riffa Club had five of their players being selected to the national team – Abdulla Shalal, Sayed Dhiya Saeed, Sayed Ahmed Jaffar, Kameel AlAswad, and Mohammed Al Tayeb – While Abdulla Al Hazaa, Abdulla Janahi and Sami Al Husseiny were called up from East Riffa Club.
Abbas Ahmed and Ahmed Bughamar from Al Hidd Club and Ashraf Waheed, Mohammed Adel and Issa Moosa from Manama Club were also named in the squad.
Other players in the squad are Al Ahly’s Kameel Abdulla and Sayed Mahdy Baqer, Busaiteen’s Majtaby Ghuloom, Al Shabab’s Ali Madan and Al Malkiya’s Ali Isa.
Bahrain go into the match having won their previous encounter against third-placed Philippines 2-0 at home while North Korea will look to overcome their 3-1 defeat against second-placed Uzbekistan.
In their previous clash Bahrain fell to a 1-0 defeat against North Korea.
Batista will speak about Bahrain’s preparations for the game at a pre-match press conference in Pyongyang today.
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