In the early morning of October 16, Beijing time, in the fourth round of Group C of the third stage of the World Preliminary Asian Region, the Saudi men's football team drew 0-0 with the Bahrain men's football team at home, and the two sides accumulated 5 points, ranking third and fourth in the group. For the national football team, it is another piece of good news, only 2 points away from the second place in the group.
Both teams are competitors of the national football team, so the result of this game directly affects the situation of the national football team. In the first 3 rounds, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain are 1 win, 1 draw, 1 loss and 4 points, the goal difference is different, Saudi Arabia is temporarily third, Bahrain is fourth, so whoever wins this game can throw off the opponent.
The two teams have met quite a few times in the past, but the last time they met in the World Championship was back in 2009, when the home and away sides were drawn. In the latest FIFA world rankings, Saudi Arabia ranked first and Bahrain ranked 76th.
Saudi Arabia lost the last round at home to Japan, and naturally the home team does not want to continue to lose this round.
Against Bahrain, Saudi Arabia opened the game with a series of fierce attacks, in the 3rd minute, Buraikham's left-footed shot was saved by the opposing goalkeeper, and then in the 20th minute, Sahafi fell to the ground in the penalty area to create a point, Dawasari's penalty was saved by the opposing goalkeeper, and Saudi Arabia missed a great opportunity to take the lead. In the 43rd minute, Dawasari's shot from outside the penalty area was directly flying, and the state was not good, and Saudi Arabia was scoreless at halftime.
In the second half, the two sides attacked and defended each other, but they were always a little close to the goal, in which Bahrain missed a good chance to score a single goal, and finally drew 0-0 in the final 103 minutes, taking one point each, and Saudi Arabia lost points at home.
In the first 4 rounds, 1 win, 2 draws and 1 loss, Saudi Arabia only scored 5 points, and Mancini, as the coach, will definitely not meet the psychological expectations of the Saudi Football Association and miss the opportunity to get rid of other opponents in the same group.
For Bahrain, 1 win, 2 draws and 1 loss in the first 4 rounds, 5 points is beyond expectations, because beating Australia and drawing Saudi Arabia is a good performance, and the only defeat is also against Japan.
For the national football team, Saudi Arabia's draw with Bahrain is also good news, because in the latest standings, only Japan, which has 10 points, is far ahead, and the national football team cannot surpass, and Australia, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have 5 points, and the national football team is only 2 points behind, which means that there is still hope to hit the top two in the group, that is, the through zone.
According to the schedule, the national football team will face Bahrain away and Japan at home next month, and at least three points from two games will be able to finish in the top four of the group.