Asian Cup Q: Bahrain bound for Qatar
ISMAEEL Abdulatif’s hat-trick helped Bahrain secure a place at the 2011 AFC Asian Cup finals after Milan Macala’s men hammered Hong Kong 4-0 at the Bahrain National Stadium.
Abdulatif grabbed his treble in the space of just nine first-half minutes to settle the Group A encounter before Abdullah Al Dakeel added a fourth 11 minutes from the end.
Bahrain’s fourth consecutive victory now sees them share top spot with Japan, who defeated Yemen 3-2 in the group’s other game.
The home side took the game to the opposition from the opening whistle and Husain Salman tested Hong Kong goalkeeper Tse Tak Him after just three minutes with a long-range effort.
Bahrain continued to press and again went close after 16 minutes when Mohamed Husain saw his acrobatic shot sail over the crossbar.
Milan Macala’s men then thought that they have opened the scoring five minutes later when Abdulatif converted Sayed Mohamad Adnan’s cross but the goal was disallowed for offside.
However, Abdulatif was not to be denied and broke the deadlock in the 34th minute when Salman Isa progressed down the left flank before sending over a cross that the tall striker dispatched into the back of the net.
Bahrain almost doubled their advantage two minutes later when Faouzi Aaish saw his fierce free-kick come back off the bar before the Hong Kong defenders in attendance cleared the danger.
But the score line became 2-0 in the 40th minute when Husain Ali played a neat exchange of passes with Salman and the latter’s centre was met by Abdulatif to claim his second goal of the game.
Abdulatif completed his hat-trick three minutes later when Ahmed Hassan produced a low cross from the right flank that the striker fired first-time past Tse.
Bahrain did not take their foot off the gas in the second period and they nearly added a fourth goal just four minutes after the break when they again hit the woodwork, this time through Salman.
Hat-trick hero Abdulatif then turned from scorer to provider with 11 minutes remaining as he raced into the area and with only the goalkeeper to beat, unselfishly squared the ball to substitute Al Dakeel and the striker made no mistake to slot home Bahrain’s fourth goal.
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