Bahrain battled Japan to a goalless draw in their final Group D game of the 2024 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Asian Cup Qualifiers at the Muharraq Stadium last night but their elation at having given themselves a chance to qualify turned into despair just three hours later.
Coming into this match, Bahrain were third in the four-team table with three points and needed to either beat leaders Japan, who had six points, to draw level with them or gain one point from a draw. If, as it transpired, a draw was the result, then the kingdom’s team had to wait for the result of the Palestine-Pakistan game, which started an hour after Bahrain’s match ended.
Palestine also had three points before the start of their final game while Pakistan had none. If Pakistan beat Palestine, Bahrain would be second in the table with four points behind Japan, who now had seven, and would qualify for the main tournament. According to the Qualifiers format, the table-toppers from 11 groups would qualify directly for the Asian Cup with the four best second-placed teams also going through.
However, if Palestine won, they would move into second position. In the event of a draw, Palestine would have ended up with four points, the same as Bahrain, but would still be in second place in the table because of having won the head-to-head encounter between the two teams last week.
As it turned out, Palestine won 2-1, ending any debate and leaving the Bahrain players distraught.
Bahrain head coach Dario Basic was understandably downbeat as the result of the Palestine-Pakistan game came in but said he was extremely happy with the way his team played against Japan.
“We played a very high-level game,” he told the GDN.
“I’m very happy because Japan is one of the best teams in Asia. To hold them to a draw without allowing them to score is a very big achievement.
“We were very organised in this game. The players were tactically disciplined and showed a lot of maturity. Most of them are only 19 or 20 years old so they will gain big value and experience from this round of qualifiers.”
Basic added that he hoped the players would continue to display the same resolve in future matches.
“This is how we will also need to play in the future,” he added.
“Hopefully, these young players will get even more opportunities to display their talent. And, as time goes by, they might even get picked up by some clubs, which will also be hugely beneficial for them.”
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