First place in Group B of the Arabian Gulf Cup will be at stake on Wednesday as Bahrain and Iraq celebrate Christmas Day at Jaber Al-Ahmad International Stadium in Kuwait.
Both sides collected narrow victories on matchday one, with the Bahrainis defeating Saudi Arabia 3-2 and Iraq blanking Yemen 1-0.
Match preview
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After coming out firing in the opening half against the Saudis, Bahrain nearly gave it all away in the final 45 minutes, doing just enough to claim three points.
That ended their five-match winless run across all competitions, putting them in a position to potentially qualify for the knockout phase of the Gulf Cup for a fourth successive occasion.
For that to happen on Wednesday, they would need to win and have Saudi Arabia and Yemen draw to guarantee their passage into the next round.
Bahrain have gone unbeaten in five consecutive group stage fixtures at the Arabian Gulf Cup, winning four of those matches.
Lately, Dragan Talajic has seen his side be much more decisive in the attacking third, scoring a combined five goals in their previous two competitive fixtures, one more than they had managed in their seven encounters played before that.
They are undefeated in their last six meetings with Iraq, including a shootout victory the last time the two teams squared off at this tournament, in the 2019 semi-finals.
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As we have come to expect, Iraq were rock solid defensively once again on Sunday, failing to concede a single effort on target versus Yemen.
It was the sixth time in their last seven competitive matches that Jesus Casas had seen his side maintain a clean sheet, with this team doing so now in three consecutive international affairs.
In their previous 11 matches across all competitions, the Lions of Mesopotamia have only suffered one defeat, narrowly losing 3-2 versus South Korea in a World Cup qualifier last October.
The reigning Gulf Cup champions have not lost any of their last 10 group contests at this event, with their previous defeat in this phase dating back to November 2014 (2-0 versus the United Arab Emirates).
They have not lost a single encounter all year after scoring first, while they boast a 100% record across all competitions in 2024 when doing so.
Iraq have not beaten Bahrain after 90 minutes since the group portion of this tournament in 2010 (3-2), but they have not lost to them in normal time on four successive occasions.
Team News
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We saw four newcomers who did not begin the World Cup qualifier against Australia start for Bahrain this past weekend, including Waleed Al Hayam, Kamil Al-Aswad, Mahdi Al-Humaidan and Mahdi Abduljabbar.
Al-Humaidan and Abduljabbar scored first-half goals on matchday one, with Mohamed Marhoon's winner coming 14 minutes from the end.
Two Iraqi players collected their first caps for the senior squad in their opening game, as Marko Farji and Peter Gwargis came on as second-half substitutes in place of Ali Jasim and Youssef Amyn.
A 64th-minute strike by Aymen Hussein enabled his side to claim maximum points, while Jalal Hassan picked up yet another clean sheet.
Bahrain possible starting lineup:
Lutfalla; Al-Shamsan, Benaddi, Al Hayam, Al-Khulasi; Al-Shaikh, Al-Aswad, Saeed, Al-Humaidan; Marhoon, Abduljabbar
Iraq possible starting lineup:
Hassan; Saadoon, Younis, Tahseen, Jeahze; Shlimon, Bayesh, Attwan, Jasim; Ali, Hussein
We say: Bahrain 0-1 Iraq
We trust that Iraq's cohesiveness and outstanding defensive structure will get them through this encounter and a step closer to the knockout stage.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joel Lefevre
