Bahrain national team departs for Ukraine mini-camp
TDT | Manama
The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com
Bahrain’s senior men’s national football team are scheduled to fly on a special Gulf Air chartered flight today morning to the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, where they will hold a mini-training camp before playing a friendly match against the Andriy Shevchenko-coached European giants on Sunday. The tune-up is scheduled for a 9 pm kick-off, Bahrain time, and it will include spectators in the stadium.
According to the Ukrainian Association of Football, (UFA) tickets to the game are already on sale.
The attendance of fans is being done following the recommendations of Ukraine’s Ministry of Health of Ukraine.
“The Ukrainian Football Association has taken into account all current protocols and is ready to ensure the presence of spectators at the Ukraine-Bahrain match,” the UFA said.
Bahrain’s national team players conducted their PCR tests for COVID-19 on Tuesday and all results were negative, said a team official.
Tomorrow, the team will conduct another PCR test upon arrival.
The Bahrainis will be holding three practice sessions before the friendly, two of which will be held at the training grounds of the Metalist Oblast Sports Complex, where the exhibition game will be held.
The final practice will take place at the stadium itself ahead of the match.
Bahrain is travelling to Ukraine with a 23-man squad, coached by Portuguese tactician Helio Sousa.
The delegation making the trip is headed by Bahrain Football Association vice-president for technical affairs Shaikh Khalid bin Salman Al Khalifa. Bahrain’s squad includes 13 players from the national league- cup champions Riffa, namely Ahmed Abdulla, Ali Haram, Ali Madan, Hamad Shamsan, Hashim Isa, Hazza Ali, Jassim Al-Shaikh, Komail Alaswad, Mahdi Humaidan, Mohammed Marhoon, Redha Isa, Sayed Baqer and Sayed Shubbar Alawi.
Two players are from Manama, namely Ahmed Nabeel and league top scorer Mahdi Abduljabbar, while another two are from East Riffa, including Mohammed Al Rumaihi and Abdulla Hazaa.
Two more are from Al Khaldiya Club, namely Ebrahim Lutfallah and Sayed Qasem Alawi.
The rest of the team features Mohammed Marhoon from Malkiya Club, Jassim Khulaif from Budaiya, Abbas Fadhel from Al Shabab, and overseas-based professional Sayed Dhiya Saeed from Al Nasr SC in Kuwait.
The Bahrainis held a final local training session at Riffa Club last night before their departure.
Ukraine has a 25-player team currently training under Shevchenko, the former Milan, Chelsea and Dynamo Kyiv great. Many of the players are from Dynamo and Shakhtar Donetsk.
Ukraine will be the highest-ranked international opponent Bahrain have faced competitively in recent years.
The Ukrainians are currently classified 24th on the FIFA World Ranking. Bahrain is 99th.
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