Doha, Dec 9 - Bahrain imprinted their name finally in the history of the Arabian Gulf Cup after 49 years since the tournament has begun. The celebrations are going on as the team arrived to the capital city of Bahrain, Al Manama on Monday. Mohamed Saad al Romaihi scored all-the important goal for Bahrain in the final against Saudi Arabia at the 24th Arabian Gulf Cup in Doha’s Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium on Sunday.
Helio Sousa, the Portuguese head coach of Bahrain, said it was a historic day for Bahrain football that deserved to be celebrated.
“Five months of hard work and with clear target, all the players produced their best to compete and succeeded in achieving the Arabian Gulf Cup glory. The next tough assignment waiting for us is the World Cup and Asian qualifiers,” coach Sousa said.
Bahrain players cheered their coach inside the press conference hall and praised his rules in the tournament. “Winning two championships including the West Asian Championship in Iraq and the Arabian Gulf Cup in Qatar are reflecting the proper and integrated work of Bahrain football. I was confident about my players performance against the top Saudi Arabia team. Accordingly, all the Bahrain players proved their high capabilities and achieved one of their big milestones by winning the first title of Gulf Cup,” he said.
The Bahrain head coach repeated his confidence on all the 23 players in the team. “I had spent much time to build this team. I am happy to see all the players deliver top performance in all matches. I do not have 11 players to depend on. I trust on all my players and building full team comprised of 23 players,” the head coach pointed out. The Portuguese coach congratulated all Bahrain fans for this accomplishment. “We showed top performance in the tournament and deserved this title. The hard work should continue with the same spirit as we are competing in the joint qualification of the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar and 2023 AFC Asian Cup in China.”
PLAYERS THANK FANS
All the Bahrain players lived the historic moment after the match. The winning heroes expressed their thanks to the big crowd who attended the Doha final and to all the fans back home.
Bahrain defender Sayed Redha said all the fans deserved this golden trophy after many years of the tournament. “I believe all the Gulf countries are celebrating with Bahrain lifting the title. The joy is not for Bahrain fans but it covers all the region,” he added.
His team-mate Jassim al Shiekh voiced similar opinion. “ We are very proud to create this moment for our spectators. This accomplishment will encourage us to do better in the upcoming tournaments,” he added.
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