BAHRAIN secured an automatic berth in the 2020 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U23 Championship following a 2-0 victory over Palestine last night in their final Group ‘B’ match in qualifying.
All the matches in their group were hosted in the kingdom and played at the Khalifa Sports City stadium in Isa Town.
Needing nothing less than a victory to seal their spot in next year’s continental showcase, the Bahrainis delivered the goods and scored both their goals in the game’s final quarter-hour.
Mohamed Yusuf Hardan first scored in the 78th minute with a spot-kick, while substitute forward Ahmed Abdulrahman Al Sherooqi applied the final dagger with a goal a minute before full time.
The result gave Samir Ben Chammam’s side their third victory in as many games to get a maximum nine points from their qualifying campaign. They also completed the qualifiers with a clean sheet of no goals conceded, while scoring 12 themselves in all matches.
In yesterday’s other Group ‘B’ fixture, Bangladesh got their only points from qualifying after beating Sri Lanka 2-0. It was their only win in three matches although the result had no bearing on their hopes of advancing to the AFC U23 event.
Bahrain finished as one of the 11 group winners that came away with automatic berths to the tournament finals, which are scheduled to be held in January in Thailand.
Other group winners were Qatar, Iraq, Jordan, Uzbekistan, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, China, Vietnam and either Saudi Arabia or the UAE.
Four of the best runners-up from all the groups also made it through. They included Australia, Iran, Syria and a last yet-to-be-determined team.
In Bahrain’s game last night, a tense first half brought plenty of action but no goals, as both sides were denied by the woodwork.
In the second, Bahrain continued to surge forward in search of a breakthrough. Hashim Sayed Hashim saw an effort cleared off the line and another was saved by Omar Nahfawi a minute later. But Bahrain’s opening goal finally came when Hardan took on the responsibility of thumping in a 78th-minute penalty after Palestine’s Hani Abdallah committed a reckless foul.
Bahrain’s direct passage to Thailand was then sealed when Al Sherooqi slammed in a Mohamed Marhoon cross in the dying moments for the 2-0 winning margin.
Palestine’s defeat means they will not feature in Thailand, which comes as a disappointment after they impressed to reach the quarter-finals in the 2018 edition of the competition.
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