Bahrain head coach Dragan Talajic apologised to the kingdom’s football fans for their loss to Yemen on Saturday night in their concluding preliminary round clash of the 26th Gulf Cup in Kuwait, but also vowed to see a different team in the semi-finals tomorrow.
The nationals suffered a late 1-2 defeat to the Yemenis in their third and last Group B fixture in a game that had no bearing on their title ambitions. The Bahrainis had already secured their place in the last four with two victories from their first two assignments against Saudi Arabia and defending champions Iraq.
But Talajic expressed his disappointment with some of his players’ lacklustre effort and for missing the chance to claim the maximum nine points from their three games in the opening stage.
Bahrain have advanced to the semis as Group B winners and will take on Group A runners-up and hosts Kuwait tomorrow at 8.45pm tomorrow, Bahrain time.
“Congratulations to Yemen for their win – they fought for this and they deserve it tonight,” Talajic said in his post-match Press conference, adding: “I am ashamed to be first in the group after this loss. I don’t like to lose any single game, but we lost with reason.
“The people who are travelling from Bahrain, who are coming here supporting us, we make them ashamed. I am first to be ashamed and all my players are ashamed for this, because these supporters do not deserve this.
“We had a game without any pressure, and we played like this – I am ashamed. I know what is the main reason, but you will see in the next game.
“The fans deserve better. My boys had a chance for the first time to be in history for anyone to go in the second round with nine points. But Yemen they showed us what we need do in our next game, and inshaallah, we will do it.”
With the opportunity to rest his regular starters against the Yemenis, Talajic fielded a completely different first 11 in the match.
“I changed the whole team to give a chance for the players who have not played in this tournament, and hamdullah they tried to give their best,” Talajic said. “But at the end of the story, we lost this game.
“Some of them showed a good capacity for the future, some of them were not really in the game. But this is football.
“Mabrook for Yemen, they taught us what we need to do. We cannot play football without fighting and without and playing with your heart on the field.”
Bahrain and Saudi finished with six points apiece on the Group B table but the Bahrainis took the top spot based on their head-to-head result against the Saudis, according to the tournament’s tie-break rules. Bahrain won their meeting 3-2.
Saudi face off with Group A winners Oman in tomorrow’s other semi-final, set to begin at 5.30pm, Bahrain time.
The winners of tomorrow’s two semis encounters will clash in the championship game on Saturday. The tournament’s title winners will also come away with a cool $1million in prize money, while the runners-up will pocket $750,000.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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