Bahrain head coach Dragan Talajic expects a tough test this evening when the kingdom’s senior men’s national team take on continental giants Saudi Arabia in the third round of Asian qualifying for the Fifa World Cup 2026.
The match is set to be played at the 63,000-capacity King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah with a 9pm kick-off, Bahrain time.
Talajic considers the Saudis to be one of the favourites in qualification Group C along with Japan and Australia, but he is not shying away from the challenge ahead of both teams’ fourth assignment in this stage.
“Everybody knows Saudi is a strong team,” Talajic said yesterday in his pre-game Press conference. “They are one of the favourites in our group to qualify for the World Cup, and we respect them too much.
“They have very good players and have one of the best coaches in the world in Roberto Mancini, but inshallah we will see what will happen tomorrow.
“We have to be honest – it will be a very tough game. They are the big favourites, but we have some ideas of how we want to play against them.”
Bahrain and Saudi head into tonight’s clash currently tied on the divisional table with four points apiece along with the Australians. They are all ranked behind first-placed Japan, who have a maximum of nine points from their three games, while Indonesia follow on three points and China on zero.
Talajic noted that Bahrain are looking to “play an open game” in this evening’s encounter and not only rely on their formidable back line.
“When you play with big teams like Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, sometimes you want to be more defensive, but we did not come here to play that way tomorrow,” he said. “We want to play an open game, and we will see what will happen.”
The Croatian tactician, who had past stints coaching in Saudi including at Jeddah-based Al Ittihad, is expecting a vibrant atmosphere at the game, which he says his team will embrace.
“A full stadium is not a problem for my boys and me,” he stressed. “We know for sure that more than 90 per cent will be supporting Saudi, but this is normal. There is no problem with this, and it will be a nice atmosphere.
“We respect Saudi too much – the people, the fans – I have excellent memories from Saudi for all my life. But now is a different story – we will play one game tomorrow and we will do our best to win.
“The situation is always 50-50. We are coming with four points from three games and Saudi have four points from three games also. We will see tomorrow; it will be a nice game – the 90 minutes will be a big fight between two teams, and inshaallah all the fans will enjoy.”
Meanwhile, the official technical meeting was also held yesterday with officials from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and representatives from the two national teams taking part.
In other Group C games today, Japan host Australia in a mammoth clash at Saitama Stadium 2002 at 1.35pm, and China welcome Indonesia to Qingdao Youth Football Stadium for a 3pm contest. Both times are Bahrain.
There are three groups in all in Asian qualification’s third phase. Group A features Iran, Qatar, Uzbekistan, the UAE, Kyrgyzstan and North Korea; while Group B is composed of South Korea, Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Palestine and Kuwait.
The top two finishers from each group will punch their tickets to the Fifa World Cup 2026.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
&uuid=(email))