Jeddah, June 25 (BNA) The Bahrain national futsal team defeated Kuwait 2-0 in the third-place match yesterday, to win the bronze medal in the 2022 West Asian Futsal Federation Women’s Championship in King Abdullah Sports City. The stadium is here.
Bahrain took the lead in the 26th minute of the match when Sheikha Al-Anoud bint Hamad Al Khalifa kicked the ball past Kuwait goalkeeper Yasmine Abdullah. The Gulf Daily News (GDN) reported that after just four minutes, Manar Ibrahim scored 2-0 when she directed the ball into the goal, bypassing Abdullah.
“It was an excellent performance by the whole team,” Bahrain coach Lino Gomez told GDN by phone from Jeddah. “We controlled the game from start to finish.”
Overall, Gomez said he was pleased with the way his team vindicated themselves in the tournament, winning their group matches against Palestine (6-0) and Iraq (1-0) before losing in the semi-finals against Saudi Arabia. The Arabs, who managed to beat them 1-0 in overtime.
“I am very proud of my team,” Gomez declared. “We did not allow any team to score against us in the group stage and Saudi Arabia could only defeat us with this single goal during extra time in the semi-finals.”
Bahrain’s Zahra Ali was named the tournament’s best goalkeeper – an award, Gomez said, well deserved.
“She is only 18 years old and plays like an experienced professional,” he added. “You’ve done really well in all of the games.”
Meanwhile, in the final match held later, Iraq beat its host Saudi Arabia 4-2 to win its first title in the tournament.
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