FOOTBALL – THE stage is set for Bahrain’s crunch clash against Saudi Arabia tomorrow in the third round of Asian qualifiers for the Fifa World Cup 2026.
The kingdom’s senior men’s football national team have been gearing up for the game over the past couple of weeks and are determined to come away with a positive result to keep their World Cup hopes alive.
With the match being their penultimate fixture of this stage, the nationals are already out of the running for a direct berth to next year’s finals, with the top two spots in qualification Group C mathematically out of reach. But they are fighting for third or fourth place in their division, which would see them advance to round four in the continental qualifiers.
The Bahrainis have been training under the supervision of Croatian head coach Dragan Talajic.
Bahrain Football Association vice-president Shaikh Khalifa bin Ali bin Isa Al Khalifa made a visit to the national team’s session Monday night at Shaikh Ali Bin Mohammed Al Khalifa Stadium at Muharraq Club in Arad. He spoke with team members and delivered a message of encouragement ahead of tomorrow’s clash.
The nationals continued their preparations yesterday with a morning physical fitness session before taking to the pitch in the evening, also at Shaikh Ali Bin Mohammed Al Khalifa Stadium.
The Bahrainis will have their final practice tonight at the National Stadium in Riffa, where tomorrow’s contest will be held, kicking off at 7pm.
Prior to their training, which gets underway at 5.45pm, Talajic will speak with the media in his pre-game Press conference scheduled for 5.15pm.
Saudi head coach Herve Renard will be addressing the Press in his own conference at 6.45pm, to be followed by the visitors’ practice at the match venue starting at 7.15pm.
Tomorrow’s affair will be Bahrain’s last at home in this third round of Asian qualifiers. The nationals will then face off with China in their concluding assignment away on Tuesday next week, to be held at Chongqing Longxing Football Stadium.
Bahrain are currently in a tough position in qualification heading into these last two games remaining. They are fifth amongst the six Group C teams with six points – tied with the Chinese, who are last.
Undefeated Japan are top with 20 points and have already secured their spot in the Fifa World Cup 2026, followed by Australia with 13 points. Saudi are third with 10 points, while Indonesia are fourth on nine markers.
Australia host Japan at Optus Stadium in Perth, while Indonesia play China at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta in tomorrow’s other divisional ties.
Entry for Bahraini fans in the general stands at the National Stadium tomorrow is free, while VIP tickets are available at BD20 apiece. They can be bought at the BFA headquarters until tomorrow between 9am and 1pm and between 4pm and 6pm.
Category One tickets for Saudi fans are also available to purchase.
There are three groups in all in this third round of Asian qualifiers. 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 punch their tickets to the World Cup finals. The third and fourth-placed squads will compete in a fourth round, where they will be divided into another two groups. There, the winners of each qualify for football’s global showpiece.
The two second-placers will then square off in a home-and-away phase, with the victors marching forward to compete in an inter-continental play-off for one final available World Cup berth.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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