Thailand team lost to Bahrain, breaking the 11-match unbeaten streak

To prepare for the Asian Cup qualifiers, the Thai team had a friendly match with Bahrain. Mano Polking’s team’s opponent will also compete in Group E of the Asian Cup qualifiers held in Malaysia. On the FIFA rankings, Thailand ranks 111th compared to Bahrain’s 89th in the world. On the home side, veteran striker Teerasil Dangda started the field. Meanwhile, coach Helio De Sousa also uses 37-year-old goalkeeper Sayes Jaffer – who has made 130 appearances for Bahrain.

Before the match, a rain lasted for more than 3 hours fell on the BG field but did not affect the quality of the grass much. Right from the first minutes, Thailand suddenly had a goal to take the lead. In the second minute, Badin Phala had a tricky dribble in the penalty area before hitting the Bahrain defender’s hand. The referee gave Thailand a penalty and Dangda did not miss the opportunity to open the scoring for the home team.

Minutes later, Thailand had many dangerous opportunities but could not take advantage of them. The most unfortunate situation was the missed situation of Pathomphon after a left shot from outside the box. Badin Phala left many marks on the offensive front with very accurate crosses. However, Bahrain suddenly equalized at the last minute of the first half. Ibrahim Alcatal received the ball hanging from his teammates, headed high to equalize 1-1 for Bahrain. This is also the final score of the first half.

In the second half, the Thai team continued to have the opportunity to once again take the lead after 47 minutes. However, the Bahrain defense and goalkeeper focused on preventing this situation. Both teams played quite comfortably and constantly had dangerous attacking situations. In the 63rd minute, the Bahrain players had a chance to score in a 2 on 1 situation, but the number 20 missed the unbelievable with a distance of only one meter in front of goal.

During the rest of the time, the Thai players rapidly deteriorated in fitness and let Bahrain threaten the goal with speed balls. However, the students of coach Helio De Sousa could not take advantage of it successfully. But right at the time the match was only seconds, Hashim scored a 2-1 victory for Bahrain.

After this match, both Thailand and Bahrain will begin their journey to the Asian Cup qualifiers. Thailand is in Group C with Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Meanwhile, Bahrain is in Group E with Malaysia, Turkmenistan and Bangladesh.