Bahrain will be missing the services of six of their overseas-based players when they take on the UAE in a friendly at the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium in the Capital tonight. The two strikers Ala'a Hubail and Jaycee John, midfielders Abdulla Fatai and Salman Isa, and defenders Hussain Baba and Hamad Rakea are all playing with overseas teams and have not been released by their clubs for the match.
"These are some of our key players," said the Bahrain team administrator Hassan Khalfan. "But we cannot do anything about their absence because this match does not fall on an official Fifa day allocated for friendlies." These players were also not available for the pre-season friendlies when Bahrain lost to the likes of the Czech club SK Sigma Olomouc (3-2), German side Schalke 04 (4-1) and English Premier League team Stoke City (2-1). Their absence led the Bahrain coach Milan Macala to remark: "I am like a general with no soldiers."
The match against the UAE is the final game for Bahrain before they take on Japan on Sept 6 in their opening Group 1 game of the final round of Asian qualifying for the 2010 World Cup. Macala believes the unavailability of their star players for the build-up to the Japan game could hamper their chances. "If our players are not 100 per cent physically prepared, then we can't face a team like Japan," he said.
Khalfan, however, sounded more optimistic as he tried to downplay the negatives. "Things have been going very well and all the players have gotten themselves ready," he said. "All our work is done for the Japan test. "We will surely have them [the missing players] back for our match with Japan." apassela@thenational.ae