Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Sydney: Coach Marjan Eid wants to polish the image of Bahraini football by beating Group C’s other ousted side Qatar in their final match at AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015 on Monday.
“We will use this game to continue the positive image of the Bahraini team. We have played two games (against Iran and the United Arab Emirates) that have been very good, but we lost due to our own mistakes,” he said.
“In this game, we should continue to improve our image and play well because it is an important match for the players to gain experience because of our young team.”
In their last meeting at November’s Gulf Cup in Riyadh, Bahrain drew 0-0 with eventual champions Qatar in their group match and Eid has targeted all three points at Stadium Australia.
“I hope the final game in the tournament for us goes well and we can take the three points,” he said.
Bahrain exited the AFC Asian Cup on the back of a 2-0 defeat to three-time champions Iran and what Eid described as an unlucky 2-1 loss to United Arab Emirates.
His side went behind in extraordinary circumstances in that game as Emirati striker Ali Mabkhout scored the fastest goal in AFC Asian Cup history after just 14 seconds.
And although Bahrain equalised through striker Jaycee John on 28 minutes, a second-half own goal from captain Mohamed Hussain proved to be their downfall.
“We have not been lucky in this tournament because there have been a lot of negative things in this tournament. We accept we conceded four goals by mistake and not by tactical performance,” added Eid.
“At the start of the game (against the UAE) it was a case of poor decision making. It was a mistake that the players can learn from and not repeat in the future.”
With Bahrain failing to make the knockout stage at the AFC Asian Cup, questions have been asked about Eid’s future with the team but he said that his position had not yet been raised.
“I still haven’t discussed it with the (Bahraini) board of directors or president because we still have one match left in the tournament. When we are back in Bahrain we will discuss whether I continue or not,” said Eid, who took over as coach midway through the Gulf Cup following the dismissal of Adnan Hamad.
Photo: WSG