TDT | Manama
Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com
Bahrain’s national men’s futsal team got off to a winning start to their 2024 AFC Futsal Asian Cup qualifying campaign last night.
Bahrain defeated Timor-Leste 1-0 at the Khalifa Sports City Arena in Isa Town.
Salman Al Mulla scored the winning goal late in the second half.
Bahrain and Timor-Leste, along with Kuwait and Brunei, are in Group F, where qualifying competition will be tough.
The event will see a total of 31 countries divided into eight groups for qualifying, with each group held at a central venue.
In the other Group F match yesterday, Kuwait defeated Brunei 4-2.
As a result, Kuwait took the lead in Group F following the first round. Bahrain return to court tomorrow against Brunei.
They will then qualify against Kuwait on Wednesday.
In last night’s match, neither team could find the back of the net in the first half, and things looked the same after 20 minutes.
But Al Mulla showed some late heroics, scoring with a minute left until full-time.
His goal was enough to separate the teams and give Bahrain three points.
Bahrain’s Brazilian head coach Rafael Fogajeiro has fielded a squad of 14 players.
The list includes Al-Mulla, Saeed Fadel Radi, Saeed Mohamed Hameed, Roai Al Mahfouz, Mohamed Al Sindi, Farah Abbas, Jassam Annan, Saleh Sinjar, Mirza Al Nuaimi, They include Ahmed Antar, Ahmed Abdulnabi, Hassan Mohammed, Ammar Mihad and Fares Shirin.
After one round robin, the eight group winners, along with the top seven players and the host country’s national team, will earn an automatic ticket to next year’s AFC Futsal Asian Cup.
Bahrain are aiming to qualify for the AFC Futsal Asian Cup for the fourth time in the tournament’s history.
The host for next year’s event has not yet been decided.
The Nationals have previously competed in the tournament in 2002, 2018 and 2022, with their best performance coming in Taiwan in 2018, when they reached the quarterfinals.
The tournament also serves as a qualifier for the FIFA Futsal World Cup, with five teams from the AFC booking their spots in the world tournament to be held in September and October next year.