Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Manama: Coach Miroslav Soukup hailed Bahrain’s “great desire to win” as the former semi-finalists maintained an unbeaten record on the road to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup Finals with a dominant 5-0 victory over Chinese Taipei on Tuesday.
The win at Bahrain National Stadium was Bahrain’s second in Group E, although it was by far the most convincing following an opening goalless draw at home to Singapore and 2-1 away win over Turkmenistan.
Komail Al Aswad and Ali Madan scored in the first half for Bahrain before a double from Mahdi Abduljabbar and a further strike from Abdulla Yusuf sealed the win in the second half for the 2004 AFC Asian Cup semi-finalists.
“I’m satisfied with the performance that the players had as the team showed good discipline and character throughout the match,” said Bahrain coach Miroslav Soukup.
“I’m happy with what the players showed and want to thank them for the good performance starting from the preparation period until the end of this match.
“The players followed instructions and we worked on the weak points that we had previously which helped us to get this result. The players showed great desire to win right from the start.”
Bahrain are in the hunt for a fifth consecutive AFC Asian Cup finals appearance and the win over Chinese Taipei saw Soukup’s side move three points clear over Turkmenistan at the top of the table.
“Our opponents were not an easy side, but our good preparations and determination helped us to win,” added Soukup, with Bahrain crucially a further point clear of third place Chinese Taipei with three games remaining with the top two securing qualification for the 2019 finals.
“We will continue working in order to achieve our target which is to qualify for the finals.”
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