Hosts Bahrain hope to make history today and qualify for the prestigious 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup finals.
The nationals will take on tournament surprise Vietnam in the AFC Under-19 Championship. This crucial match tips off at 7.30pm at National Stadium.
The winners of this key clash will book their berths in next year’s biennial international youth football championship in South Korea.
In the other quarter-finals, scheduled for tomorrow, Japan take on Tajikistan at 4.15pm at Khalifa Stadium and Iran face Uzbekistan at 7.30pm at National Stadium.
Coaches of the four teams involved in today’s action shared their thoughts at the pre-matches press conference held yesterday.
Bahrain coach Abdulaziz Abdo emphasised that they were facing a good team in Vietnam with good tactics and players.
“We have a few advantages as hosts of this tournament including the fact that we play in our own stadium and in front of our own fans, which gives the players extra motivation”, he said.
“We would like to make the fans, the government and the Bahraini Football Association happy, so we need everybody to stand up and lend a hand to the team for the next match”.
Vietnam Coach Hoang Anh Tuan said: “The first time I spoke to everybody, I said we were happy to be one of the best 16 teams in Asia. Now, after qualifying from our group, we are proud to be one of the best eight teams in this tournament.”
“Our mentality will be key to our success. We looked back at Myanmar’s exploits at the last AFC U-19 Championship when they qualified for the U-20 World Cup and we took many, many lessons from their success,” added Hoang.
Saudi Arabia’s coach Saad Al Shehri noted that all of the teams who have qualified for the quarter-finals had good tactics and mentality and that’s why they were here.
“We started the group stage with an ascending rhythm and now we’re doing great,” said Al Shehri. “We are facing an Iraqi team who have a lot of young talent and many good players and we wish them good luck. We want to have a good game so that the fans will be happy.”
On the other hand, Iraq coach Abbas Atiyah hopes his side can have plenty of good luck so they can qualify for the World Cup in South Korea.
“Saudi have a good team and a good coach, so it will not be an easy match. There will be no result other than a win. If we lose the match we will congratulate them and, if not, we will say hard luck to them.”
Entry for today’s match between Bahrain and Vietnam will be free, as per directives from Bahrain Football Association president Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa.
Shaikh Ali stressed on the importance of today’s match as Bahrain look to book their first-ever berth in the World Cup finals. He urged Bahrain fans to flock to the stadium and cheer for the national team in this crucial match.