Bahrain dreams of going to Asia Cup

Dubai – Bahrain will regain memories of the 2007 edition in its quest for an unprecedented feat when South Korea will face Tuesday the Dubai Rashid Stadium in the knockout stages of the 2019 Asian Cup.

Twelve years ago, Bahrain defeated the Republic of Korea 2-1 in its first Asian Cup clash before narrowly losing 2-1 in 2011.

Despite the technical differences between the two teams in the UAE version, which is in favor of South Korea, which finished the group stage with the full mark (9 points) and with a clean net, Bahrain, which climbed among the top four teams in third place, can use the date of his previous official meetings with the "taekuk fighters" and the exclusion of one of the biggest candidates for the title.

The two teams met five times in the Asian Cup qualifiers, finals and the World Cup, winning two draws.

"It's a historic match for a candidate to win the title," said Shaikh Khalid bin Salman Al Khalifa, vice president of the Bahrain Football Federation.

Al-Khalifa said that "the victory over South Korea is not impossible.The ball is limited to the field competition, regardless of other considerations or measures, equal opportunities at series, and to whoever performing the required performance will carry it ".

"Being qualified for the group stage was a first step and now that we have reached the round of 16, we are looking for the best." Our presence here gives us motivation and we hope to achieve it in the strong match against South Korea."

For his part, the Bahraini midfielder Ali Hamra said: "The Korean team and despite its potential with the presence of experienced and professional players, but we are moving them."

After regular participation in its first participation in the continental championship in 1988 with two defeats and two draws, Bahrain achieved its best results in 2004, ranking fourth thanks to the most prominent generation of its history, but not having yet won two victories in the same version.

Al Ahmar has qualified for the second round in 2004 with a lone win over Indonesia and then Uzbekistan in the quarterfinals on penalties after a draw in both overtime and overtime before losing to the Japanese in the semifinals and fourth and fourth place.

Between 2007 and 2015, Bahrain was the only victory of all versions, hoping to beat the base against South Korea, which seems not to be content to cross the Rashid stadium to win the title missing since 1960.