Bahrain and Iraq will face off to complete the first round of Group B which also includes Qatar and Yemen. The game will be at 20:00 at Kuwait Stadium. Bahrain who have played all Gulf Cup tournaments since its started in 1970, have never won the title.
They were very close in four times but without hope. This will be another chance for Bahrain to compete for the title. However, they will need lots of offers to qualify from the group at first, as it includes teams like Qatar and today’s encounters Iraq who won the title three times previously.
In the pre conference ahead of their clash, Bassim Qassim, Iraq team manager was clearly saying that: “We are not here to participate only, we are eyeing the fourth title for Iraq in this championship”.
“Despite the absence of some of our player and lack of preparation, all these conditions will be an incentive for us to achieve the title and win the cup and compensate for our failure to qualify for the World Cup.
“Bahrain team is very strong, which we know very well, so tomorrow’s match is very important, and those three points will move us closer to the semi-finals, there we will enter the championship strongly”. Basim
added.
On the other side, Miroslav Soukup, Bahrain manager was a bit cautious. He said: “Our first game against Iraq team will be very strong because they have a group of very qualified players and a diverse squad as Iraq manager chooses his players from 22 clubs in the league, while in Bahrain I chose from 10 clubs only.’’
“I have analyzed the Iraq Team in their games against Syria and the UAE, they have skilled players with high technical potential, we must show our strengths because in football you cannot predict who is the winner until the last minute
Soukup added: “ We worked in a very short period to get to the appropriate squad, and we played a final test game against Kuwait team which was very helpful experience for us”
“I believe in our players as well I believe we can score over Iraq like what Jazeera did against Real Madrid,’’ he added.
Jaber al Ajmi
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