Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Melbourne: Bahrain striker Ismail Abdullatif is confident he and his team-mates can secure only a second appearance in the knockout stage of the AFC Asian Cup despite being drawn in a daunting Group C alongside three-time winners Iran, recently-crowned Gulf Cup champions Qatar and highly-rated United Arab Emirates. Click here for Abdullatif's flash interview
Having impressively won Group D of the qualifiers with an unbeaten record ahead of Qatar to secure a fifth appearance at the continental championship, 2004 semi-finalists Bahrain begin their campaign against Iran on Sunday at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium.
And like any tournament opener, Bahrain will look to make a positive start against Carlos Queiroz’s charges, who appeared at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, before facing the UAE on January 15 in Canberra and Qatar four days later in Sydney.
“We have come here to make a good result and challenge, but we have a very strong group with Iran, Qatar and the Emirates. Iran played at the World Cup, the Emirates are probably the best team in the Gulf, and Qatar won the Gulf Cup, so all the teams will be strong,” said Abdullatif, who is set to make his third appearance at the AFC Asian Cup having represented Bahrain in both 2007 and 2011.
“We are confident. We are focused on the first game against Iran and after the game against Iran, we will take it step-by-step. Our target is to qualify, and then we will see what we can do.”
Bahrain have not enjoyed the most ideal preparations after changing coaches midway through November’s Gulf Cup with Marjan Eid replacing Adnan Hamad.
But, since arriving in Australia, Bahrain have beaten both Saudi Arabia and Jordan in friendlies, to raise hopes of ending the run of back-to-back group stage exits they suffered in 2007 and 2011.
“We changed our coach a month ago and have new players and some of them have not played at the Asian Cup before,” added Abdullatif, who has already racked up five goals in his two previous AFC Asian Cup appearances.
“Our preparation has not been very good, but also not bad.”
Last time out in Qatar in 2011, Abdullatif joined Behtash Fariba and Ali Daei as the only three players to score four goals in a single match at the continental competition after netting all the goals in the group stage victory over India.