FOOTBALL – BAHRAIN are ready to go the distance against hosts Kuwait tonight in their highly anticipated semi-final clash in the 26th Gulf Cup.
This was stressed yesterday by senior men’s national team head coach Dragan Talajic, who is expecting nothing less than a tough fight in front of a capacity crowd at Jaber International Stadium in the Kuwaiti capital.
The game is scheduled for an 8.45pm kick-off, Bahrain time.
“Tomorrow will be a very difficult game – it is the semi-finals,” Talajic said during his pre-match Press conference.
“We respect the Kuwait national team in a strong way. I can say that for the beginning of the game it will be 50-50, and I hope my boys will play nice football. We are also expecting Kuwait to play a nice game, and we will enjoy a full stadium with 60,000 people – it will be great for everyone.
“We are prepared for 90 minutes and maybe even more than 100 minutes, who knows. We are ready to play from beginning to end, and inshaallah we will show something that we have for the Bahraini people.”
Talajic called on his side to give their maximum effort in what will be the fourth straight Gulf Cup in which they have reached the last four.
In the tournament’s previous edition held last year, they lost in the semi-final stage to eventual runners-up Oman 0-1, while in 2019, they defeated Iraq in a penalty shootout en route to securing their first and only Gulf Cup crown.
In 2017-18, when the competition was also held in Kuwait City, the Bahrainis fell 0-1 to the Omanis, who went on to secure the title.
“Sixty thousand people, mashallah, we will enjoy it together,” Talajic said of tonight’s fixture. “This is football. We hope we can make a good game to make everyone proud about us, and you will see the heart of a Bahraini on the field.”
Talajic noted that his players are eager to bounce back from their 1-2 loss to Yemen in their concluding Group B fixture of the preliminary round held last week.
“The game we lost against Yemen made me ashamed, and I take full responsibility for this because I changed the full team,” said the Croatian tactician. “I put 11 new players in the game, and of course I was expecting to play much better than we did.
“One more time, congratulations to Yemen, but about our performance, this was one slap for me and one slap for my players, and we deserved it. I think it will be good motivation for us because we know what we have to do against Kuwait.
“We have to be Bahraini with a big heart on the field and play for our kingdom, and inshaallah we will do it.”
Talajic acknowledged that Bahrain will be going up against their former national team head coach Juan Antonio Pizzi of Argentina, but added that what matters most will be what happens on the pitch.
“Pizzi worked with my boys before, and he knows everything about us, but this is football in the 21st century, everybody knows everything about everyone,” he said. “Tomorrow is not a game between Pizzi versus Dragan, tomorrow is a game for my boys, and they will show to everyone what football is between them and Kuwait.
“All Kuwait players are good, we will prepare for all of them.”
Bahrain’s star talent Mahdi Humaidan said that he and his teammates know what to expect in tonight’s match and that they are fully prepared to give their best.
“Of course, every single game is a different challenge in this tournament, and we hope that we will play well, everyone will enjoy our performance, and that we qualify for the final,” the Al Khaldiya Club standout said through an interpreter.
“We as players have big experience in this tournament. This is our third or fourth time that we are playing in a semi-finals, so we have to learn from our previous mistakes to avoid them this time.
“After the last game against Yemen, we are focusing much more on this game, so we wish to make the fans happy.”
Meanwhile, Pizzi gave nothing away in his pre-game conference.
“Every team has positive and negatives, and we have analysed their team but I will not share my style of play here today or give anything away,” he said. “What I can say is that we will fight in order to achieve the best result for Kuwait.”
Pizzi added that his squad has prepared well and is confident of advancing towards another final and playing for their 11th Gulf title with the passionate support from the fans.
“The fans have been right behind us and we call on them to support the national team against who will give their best on the field,” he said.
“We have had three days of rest, although there has been big pressure of the matches to date on my players. Bahrain have an advantage of resting players at the last game, but we are very optimistic and share the fans hopes for a positive result.”
In today’s other semi-final, Saudi Arabia face off with Oman at 5.30pm, Bahrain time, at Jaber Al Mubarak Al Hamad Stadium.
The winners of this evening’s games will lock horns in the final on Saturday. The tournament champions will come away with a cool $1million in prize money, while the runners-up will pocket $750,000.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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