AFC U19: Bahrain to take on Saudi

Manama : Bahrain will look to take the home advantage today for a winning start when they face two-time champions Saudi Arabia.

The highly anticipated opening match of AFC U-19 Football Championship 2016 kicks off at 7.30pm at Khalifa Sports City. Prior to Bahrain’s match South Korea will take on Thailand at the same venue at 4.30pm. Today’s opening ceremony is under the patronage of Supreme Council for Youth & Sport Chairman, Bahrain Olympic Committee President & Royal Charity Organisation (RCO) Chairman HH Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa.

Bahrain making their first appearance since 2010 will be facing Thailand, Iran, Saudi Arabia and South Korea Republic. All hopes are on the Kingdom’s key player Mohamed Jasim Marhoon who performed well in their previous campaign.

In 2010, the Kingdom qualified as hosts and finished third in qualification campaign in Group F behind Iraq and Tajikistan.

Saudi struggled in the last two editions of the championships, being eliminated in the group stage in 2012 and failing to qualify in 2014. They comfortably qualified this time from Group B finishing ahead by scoring 11 goals while conceding just once. The tournament acts as the AFC qualifiers for the FIFA U-20 World Cup in South Korea, with the top four teams going through besides the hosts who have qualified automatically as hosts.