A crucial Nasser Bin Hamad Premier League football match between Riffa and Manama ended in a thrilling, scoreless draw late last night at the Bahrain National Stadium.
The game, which was a virtual final for the 10-team league, ebbed and flowed as defending champions – and table-toppers – Riffa fought off a fierce onslaught from second-placed Manama, who appeared determined to win the tournament for the first time in their 66-year history.
Boisterous fans from both teams, seated in opposite stands across the pitch, added to the excitement by never letting up on their cheering, banging drums and singing along to megaphone-wielding cheerleaders.
Riffa, with 38 points, had entered the match knowing that a win, which could have netted them three points, would have won them the championship for the second year running – and a 14th title overall.
But Manama, who lagged behind by just three points at 35, had other plans.
They went on the attack as soon as the referee’s whistle signalled the start of the game, appearing to catch the Riffa players off guard with their controlled intensity.
But Riffa regrouped within no time and started to dominate the first half, launching co-ordinated assaults on the Manama goal which, on any other day and against a less determined side, would have resulted in several goals.
But this was not their night, exemplified by a magnificent save by Manama goalkeeper off a Mohamed Marhoon free-kick from just outside the box.
Marhoon, the second-highest scorer in the tournament with eight goals after Manama’s Mahdi Abduljabar, with 15, showed why he had been so successful throughout the championship by creating a sequence of passes that, again, should have netted Riffa at least two goals by the end of the first half.
As it turned out, the teams went into their changing rooms at half-time with nothing to show for their efforts.
The second half started in dramatic fashion with another concerted move by Riffa on the Manama goal, only to be stymied again by the brilliance of goalie Ammar Ahmed.
Soon, though, the pivotal moment of the game arrived when a blatant foul by a Riffa defender at the mouth of his own goal resulted in a penalty kick being awarded to Manama in the 50th minute.
Abduljabar, Manama’s star striker throughout the season, stepped forward to take the penalty. The Riffa supporters ceased their drumming, chanting and singing as they sat, hearts in mouths, waiting for the inevitable.
But Abduljabar failed his big test, rocketing the ball yards over the goal as the Riffa supporters celebrated their team’s new lease of life by launching into a cacophony of drumming and chanting.
Aware that they had had a narrow escape, Riffa decided to change their strategy from all-out attack to keeping control of the ball.
But the minutes were ticking away and soon the game went into injury time – an additional four minutes – as the 90 minutes ran out.
There was time enough for Riffa to mount one last attack. But they found a wall, again, in the form of the Manama goalkeeper and soon the final whistle echoed around the ground to the dismay of the Riffa supporters and the unbridled glee of the Manama supporters who understood that their team is still, technically, within reach of a championship title.
But that is a very long shot. Riffa, now with 39 points after being awarded one point for the draw, are scheduled to play their last league game later this week against a very strong Muharraq side. If they win that match, the championship is theirs.
Manama, who now have 36 points, will be hoping that Riffa lose to Muharraq and praying that they, themselves, win their last game against Khaldiya, on the same yet-to-be decided date as the Riffa-Muharraq game, which would bring the two teams level on 39 points each.
That would, according to tournament rules, mean that Riffa and Manama would have to play again after Eid, this time in an actual final to determine the winner of the 2021-22 Nasser bin Hamad Premier League.
A tantalising prospect, indeed!
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