FOOTBALL – BAHRAIN’S senior men’s football national team played a scrimmage match last night as part of their ongoing local training gathering being supervised by Croatian head coach Dragan Talajic.
The game, divided into 30-minute halves, was played behind closed doors at the Bahrain Football Association (BFA) pitches in Riffa.
BFA vice-president Shaikh Khalifa bin Ali bin Isa Al Khalifa was in attendance, as was BFA board member and senior men’s national team supervisor Shaikh Ahmed bin Isa Al Khalifa.
A number of talents from the kingdom’s under-20 national team took part in the tune-up.
The nationals are scheduled to have recovery sessions today and then will have a three-day break for Al Adha. They will return to training on Saturday prior to departing for their overseas camp in Europe.
The Bahrainis are gearing up for their highly anticipated title-defence in the 27th Gulf Cup, which is scheduled to be held in September and October later this year in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
They will continue to train locally until Monday next week, after which they will conduct their European camp and will play a pair of international friendlies. The first tune-up will be against Georgia on June 5 at Mikheil Maski Stadium in Tbilisi. The game is slated for a 9pm kick-off, Bahrain time.
The nationals then make their way to Antalya, Türkiye, where they will play a friendly against Syria on June 9. That contest is to be held at Gloria Sports Arena, and it is set for a 5pm kick-off, Bahrain time.
In this year’s Gulf Cup, also known as ‘Khaleeji 27’, Bahrain are in Group B of the preliminary round along with Qatar, the UAE, and Yemen, while Group A is composed of Iraq, Oman, Kuwait, and hosts Saudi.