Bahrain Stumble in Gulf Cup Opener

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

ain suffered a disappointing start to their Khaleeji 27 title defence yesterday, falling 2-0 to Qatar in their Group B opener at Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Sports City Stadium in Jeddah.

Boualem Khouki broke the deadlock shortly after the hour mark before captain Hassan Al Haydos converted a penalty deep into stoppage time, with both sides finishing with 10 men.

Neither team offered much attacking threat during a cagey first half, although the Qataris gradually began to apply greater pressure and Akram Afif fired over shortly before the interval.

The three-time champions carried that momentum into the second period and made the breakthrough in the 61st minute.

Afif floated a deep free-kick towards the back post, where Khouki escaped Waleed Al Hayyam and headed past the advancing Ebrahim Lutfalla into the far corner.

Late Push

The Reds were handed a route back into the contest nine minutes later when Ahmed Fathy received a second yellow card for a late challenge on substitute Abbas Al Asfoor.

Dragan Talajic’s men responded by pushing forward, with Komail Al Aswad sending a low effort from inside the box narrowly wide as the kingdom searched for an equaliser.

Their hopes were extinguished during a dramatic period of stoppage time.

Al Asfoor was shown a straight red card after bringing down Al Haydos on a counter-attack before Qatar were awarded a penalty moments later.

The skipper stepped up in the 99th minute and sent Lutfalla the wrong way to seal the points.

Emiratis Next

Earlier, the UAE moved top of the standings with an emphatic 4-0 victory over Yemen at Alinma Bank Stadium, with Nicolás Giménez scoring twice alongside a Luanzinho strike and a Nader Sahal own goal.

The tournament takes a break today before Group A returns for the second round tomorrow, with Kuwait facing Iraq at 6pm and hosts Saudi Arabia taking on Oman at 9pm.

Group B resumes on Sunday, when Qatar face Yemen at 6pm before the Bahrainis take on the UAE at Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Sports City Stadium at 9pm. The opening stage concludes next week, with the final Group A matches on Tuesday and the last Group B fixtures on Wednesday.