The 30-year-old struck shortly before half-time to silence the capacity crowd, before Bahrain held on to become the competition’s sixth winners since it was held for the first time in 2000.

Bahrain’s win caps a spectacular start to life at the helm for Portuguese head coach Hélio Sousa, who emerges from his first tournament in charge of the side with a regional title and four consecutive clean sheets.

Unbeaten as hosts of the West Asian tournament, Iraq had the opportunity to seal their place in the final with a game in hand, but couldn’t find a way past winless Syria in a goalless stalemate at Karbala Sports City.

While Iraq remain favourites to win the WAFF title on home soil, Katanec believes preparing for the Asian Qualifiers against Islamic Republic of Iran, Bahrain, Hong Kong and Cambodia is a far more pressing concern.

That words of wisdom rings true for China PR midfielder Wu Xi, who has recently hit the headlines due to his solid performances.

The dynamic midfielder, who turned 30 in February, has been on top of his game for both club and country. Wu has excelled so far in his captaincy role with Jiangsu Suning, as his club are maintaining their place among the top six in the Chinese Super League.

While at international level, he was instrumental throughout China’s AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 campaign where they were ultimately knocked out at the quarter-final stage.

Having gone closer than ever to reaching the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals in Russia, Syria have cause to be optimistic about reaching Qatar, despite a largely disappointing run of results in 2019.

While star Saudi-based attacking duo Omar Al Soma and Omar Khribin were instrumental in the previous campaign, Ibrahim is using the 2019 WAFF Championship to give a number of fringe and home-based players the chance to press their case for selection.

Romeo Jozak’s side made what most would consider a dream start to life in Erbil, recovering from the concession of an early Rabee Sufyani goal to beat a youthful Saudi side, with Faisal Ajab emerging as the matchwinner.

The win was Kuwait’s first against a national team in 2019, and first outside of their homeland since 2015 after they spent nearly two years out of the international game.

The Frenchman joined the Green Falcons ahead of their imminent FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023 Asian Qualifiers campaign, which begins in early September.

Renard - who became the first coach in history to win the Africa Cup of Nations title with two different nations when he led Zambia to glory in 2012 and succeeded again with Côte d’Ivoire three years later – was appointed following his resignation as Morocco national team head coach last month.

Guam are in Group A of the Asian Qualifiers with China PR, Maldives, Philippines and Syria the teams they have to face.

It will be a tough challenge as Guam, at 198, are the lowest ranked team in the group.