Coach Soukop pleased with Bahrain's rebound

Soukop’s side suffered a shock reversal at the hands of Gary White’s side in Taipei last month when Chinese Taipei came back from a goal down to win 2-1 in added-on time as Bahrain squandered the opportunity to secure passage to the Finals.

But a commanding performance against Singapore delivered a 3-0 win over V. Sundramoorthy’s team and the three points claimed ensured the Bahrainis will finish in one of the top two positions in Group E.

"I was pleased with what I saw in the second half as we learnt from our lessons in Chinese Taipei,” said Soukup. “Our strikers started challenging the defence and began scoring again.

"After having only one or two chances in the first half, I told my players at half-time that they should be more individualistic in the final third instead of stringing passes around. 

"Like the previous leg in Bahrain, Singapore sat deep and did not give us much space, while they were a danger in set-plays early in the game.”