BAHRAIN’S senior men’s national football team stepped up their training last night with an evening session at the National Stadium in Riffa.

The Bahrainis are gearing up for their upcoming pair of qualifying matches for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup.

As part of their preparations, they play an international friendly match tomorrow against Lebanon in the kingdom.

The nationals had a special group of well-wishers to their training last night. Young children from Al Hala Club’s football academy paid a visit to the players and wished them well in their upcoming games.

Also making a quick stop to the practices were Bahrain Football Association (BFA) vice president for administrative and financial affairs Ahmed Al Nuaimi and BFA vice-president for technical affairs Ali Al Buainain.

Bahrain’ upcoming qualifiers will be against Malaysia on November 15 and then against Yemen just four nights later on the 19th.

The Bahrainis drew 1-1 with their Malaysia counterparts in Kuala Lumpur in their previous match, which was their third of six qualifiers.

Bahrain currently top group ‘D’ with seven points from three matches. They are followed by Qatar who have six points, Malaysia who have four and Yemen who have yet to score any points.

There are five groups in all in Asian Cup qualifying, and only the top two from each group, along with the best third-placed team from all the groups, make it through to the 2015 finals, which are to be held in Australia.

A total of 16 national teams will be playing in the Asian Cup. Five spots have already been taken; they include a place for host nation Australia, one for 2011 Asian Cup winners Japan, another for 2011 Asian Cup third-placed South Korea, and a place for 2012 AFC Challenge Cup winners North Korea, while the fifth will go to the winner of the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup.
The other 11 positions will be filled up by the ongoing qualification competition.