Bahrain are all set to take on Yemen tomorrow night in the joint-qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup 2027.
The match is scheduled for an 8.30pm kick-off at the National Stadium in Riffa.
As part of the pre-match formalities, the official technical meeting and coaches’ Press conferences will be held today. Yemen’s Algerian head coach Noureddine Ould Ali is set to talk to the media at 8pm, to be followed by Bahrain’s Croatian tactician Dragan Talajic at 8.15pm.
Tomorrow’s qualifier is the senior men’s national team’s penultimate assignment in Group H of this second round of continental joint-qualification. The Bahrainis will wrap up this stage against the UAE in Dubai on Tuesday next week.
Also tomorrow evening, the Emiratis play Nepal at Prince Mohamed bin Fahad Stadium in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. Their clash is scheduled for a 7pm kick-off, Bahrain time.
Bahrain head into their game against Yemen needing only one more point to officially punch their tickets to the third round of FIFA World Cup 2026 qualification, and at the same time secure their seats in the AFC Asian Cup 2027.
Bahrain currently have nine points in second place on their group table, where they are ranked behind only the undefeated Emiratis, who have a maximum 12 points. Yemen are third on three points while Nepal are last with zero.
Talajic has called up a squad of 26 players for their remaining two qualifying matches. They are spearheaded by the likes of Abdulla Yusuf, Ali Madan, Mohammed Jassim Marhoon, Mahdi Humaidan, and Komail Al Aswad, among others.
Yemen also have 26 players on their team list. In preparation for their game against Bahrain, and then with Nepal on June 11 in Dammam, they held a camp at the same Saudi city this past week ahead of their arrival in Bahrain yesterday.
Bahrain’s star forward Abdulla Yusuf participates in drills during training, with teammate Ali Haram behind him
Tomorrow’s qualifier will be the Bahrainis’ third match under Talajic’s tutelage. Their first two, held in March, were both against Nepal, and they included a 5-0 drubbing of the visitors followed by a 3-0 win. The Bahrainis had earlier defeated Yemen 2-0 in their opening assignment, but then lost to the UAE 0-2, both in November of last year.
Round three of the FIFA World Cup Asian qualifiers will feature 18 teams, who will be divided into three groups of six in the draw scheduled for June 27. This stage will be played from September of this year to June of 2025, with the top two teams from each division booking their tickets to the FIFA World Cup 2026.
The third and fourth-ranked squads will move on to play in a fourth round of qualification.
SQUADS – BAHRAIN: Abdulla Yusuf, Ali Madan, Mohammed Jassim Marhoon, Mahdi Humaidan, Komail Al Aswad, Jassim Al Shaikh, Sayed Mohammed Jaafar, Ismaeel Abdullatif, Sayed Dhiya Saeed, Waleed Al Hayyam, Abdulwahab Al Malood, Ebrahim Al Khattal, Hussain Abdulkarim, Ahmed Al Sherooqi, Abdulla Al Khalasi, Ebrahim Luthfallah, Ammar Mohammed, Sayed Mahdi Baqer, Hamad Al Shamsan, Mohammed Adel, Mohammed Al Banna, Hazza Ali, Ali Haram, Moses Atede, Mahdi Abduljabbar, Amine Benaddi.
YEMEN: Abdulla Al Saadi, Mohammed Aman, Ali Abbas, Radwan Al Hubaishi, Mufid Jamal, Al Khader Al Douh, Salah Saeed, Imad Al Jadima, Hamza Al Raimi, Hamza Hanash, Mohammed Al Tiri, Mohammed Hashem, Omar Al Dahi, Qasim Al Sharafi, Abdulmajeed Sabara, Hamza Mahrous, Abdulaziz Masoum, Abdulwasi Al Matari, Haroun Al Zubaidi, Osama Anbar, Ahmed Maher, Rami Al Wasmani, Anis Al Maari, Nasser Mahmouda, Mohammed Al Dahi, Mohammed Al Amoudi.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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