FOOTBALL – BAHRAIN’S girls’ youth football national team bowed out of further title contention yesterday in the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) U17 Girls’ Championship 2025, currently being held in Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
The kingdom’s youngsters lost to their counterparts from Lebanon 0-3 in their semi-final clash yesterday at Prince Saud bin Jalawi Stadium.
The Bahrainis will now play for third place overall against the losing team from the other final four clash between Jordan and defending champions Syria.
Bahrain conceded their first goal yesterday in the 10th minute when Lebanon’s Sara Issa slotted home off a rebound after Yasmin El Habbal’s shot was saved by Bahrain national team goalkeeper Maya Al Abbasi. The ball went right to Yasmin’s path, and she made no mistake with her effort.
Yara Geitani then doubled their advantage just seconds after the re-start with a stunning strike from the edge of the box that flew into the top-left corner of the net.
Yasmin then virtually iced the victory for the Lebanese with a goal from inside the area in the 54th minute, off a pass from substitute and teammate Rama Kharroubi.
The nationals advanced to the semi-finals after finishing as runners-up in Group A, where they lost to Jordan and defeated Saudi Arabia with the girls’ youth national team’s historic first-ever goal.
The gold and bronze medal games are slated for tomorrow.
The tournament is organised by the WAFF and is being held to support the various age groups in the regional game for girls.
Syria were the champions of the previous edition of the tournament, held in Amman, Jordan at the end of 2023. Lebanon won the title in its third edition, held at the beginning of 2023 as well as in its second edition in Jordan in late 2019. The first tournament took place in the UAE in 2018, when Jordan were crowned the champions.
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