Saudi Arabia defeats Bahrain

Saudi Arabia won their first match in the Gulf 24, when they beat Bahrain (2-0) for the second round of Group B in the match held at Abdullah Al-Khalifa Stadium. A win that puts all the possibilities for all the teams of this group to qualify.

The Saudi team started the game with the participation of Al-Hilal’s leader Salman Al-Faraj, Salem Al-Dosari, Nawaf Al-Abed, Mohammed Kanoo, Abdullah Atif and Yasser Al-Shahrani. Bahrain also started with several changes, most notably the presence of Thiago, Al-Hazza and Hardan.

Portugal’s Hélio Sousa also continued his 4-2-3-1 approach, with Thiago Agosto in front and Alsayid Dia behind him, Mohamed Abdel Wahab and Mohamed Jassem Marhoun.

Al-Akhdar, who suffered a loss in the Kuwait match, started the game putting pressure on Bahrain through Abdullah Al-Hamdan and his successor Salem Al-Dosari, Al-Abed and Al-Faraj.

Saudi Arabia was superior in the middle of the stadium but the solutions in the last third seemed difficult. The most dangerous chances came through Thiago, who fired a powerful ball at the 25th minute; Fawaz Al Qarni brilliantly blocked it.

Abdullah Al-Hamdan scored the first goal of the match against Saudi Arabia after a shot that eluded Al-Dossari in the 30th minute. After the goal, the two teams relatively calmed down with the voices of Hélio Sousa and Hervé Renard on the line.

The pattern rose relatively in the last five minutes of the first half after Bahrain initiated an attack in order to catch up with the result. Physical struggles continued on the pitch until Swiss referee Lionel Chedi was forced to intervene repeatedly and talk with the players.
The first half ends with the dominance of the Saudi team (1-0).

The second half started with a yellow card lifted by Chedi in the face of Mohammed Marhoon after his strong interception on Sultan Al-Ghannam, then the Saudi team imposed its control.

Mohammed Khubrani scored the second goal at the 58th minute from a header. After that Hervé Renard made his first substitute with the exit of Mohammed Kanoo and the entry of Abdullah Maliki.

Renard then placed Hattan Bahabri in place of Nawaf Al Abed in order to give the team more vigor and confidence. Sousa entered Mohammed Al Rumaihi in place of Mohammed Jassim Marhoon to make the offense more effective, but it was the Saudis that continued attacking.

Sousa completed his changes through the two players Kamil Aswad and Jassim Ahmed Al-Sheikh.

The confrontation ended with a yellow card for Mohammed Hardan, a missed opportunity for Alsayid Dia, and a (2-0) win for Saudi Arabia which put all the possibilities open for qualifying to the semi-final.