The national team begins its journey to Basra by meeting Bahrain.. and doubts about Lima’s participation

The national football team will begin its matches in the 25th Arabian Gulf Cup in the Iraqi city of Basra, with a difficult confrontation at 17:15 pm today, UAE time, at the Olympic Port Stadium in front of the Bahrain national team (the defending champion), who in turn seeks to defend its title in the second group matches. In the second match, Qatar and Kuwait will also meet.

Al-Abyad, who has been in a constant state of preparation since Argentine Rodolfo Aruabarina took over his training, hopes to launch his campaign in the tournament by defeating the “defending champion”, paving the way for him to the next two matches against Qatar and Kuwait, leading to the third title, and compensating the Emirati fans for his failure to qualify for the World Cup. 2022, although it was close to qualifying had it not been for losing to Australia in the Asian playoff match.

Al-Abyad, who won the title twice in 2007 and 2013, is looking forward to erasing the faded image that he appeared in in the last edition (Gulf 24) in Qatar, after he left the tournament in the first round with one victory over Yemen, and two losses against Iraq and Qatar. The national team suffers significant absences from its ranks for technical reasons and injuries, most notably the absence of the national team’s top scorer, Ali Mabkhout, as well as Ali Salmeen, Shaheen Abdul Rahman and Tahnoon Al Zaabi. Arwabarina, the coach of the Argentine national team, relies on the existing elements represented by the trio Cayo Canedo, Abdullah Hareb and Tigali, while doubts remain about the participation of Fabio Lima. who was injured. The two teams faced each other in 16 matches in the Gulf Cup tournaments, during which the team won seven matches, drew three, and Bahrain won six matches.

On the other hand, the Bahraini national team, led by its Portuguese coach Helo Souza, prepared for the tournament through friendly matches against Canada, during which it drew 2-2 and lost to Serbia 1-5. The national team completed its preparation through six rounds in the Bahraini League.

The ranks of the Bahrain national team have witnessed many changes since winning the last title, and Al-Ahmar has been absent from big names.

To see the lineup of the two teams and the statements of the coaches, Please click on this link.