Women’s futsal team clinch bronze

Jeddah, June 25 (BNA): Bahrain women’s futsal team defeated Kuwait 2-0 in the third-place play-off yesterday to clinch the bronze medal at the Third West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) Women’s Futsal Championship 2022 at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium here. Bahrain surged ahead in the 26th minute of the game when Shaikha Al-Anoud bint Hamad Al Khalifa rocketed the ball past Kuwait goalkeeper Yasmeen Abdullah. Just four minutes later, Manar Ebrahim made it 2-0 as she guided the ball into the goal, past a lunging Abdullah, Gulf Daily News (GDN) reported. “This was an excellent performance by the entire team,” Bahrain coach, Brazilian Lino Gomes told the GDN by phone from Jeddah. “We controlled the game from start to finish.” Overall, Gomes said, he was happy with the way his side had acquitted themselves in the tournament, winning both their group matches against Palestine (6-0) and Iraq (1-0) before coming up short in the semi-final against Saudi Arabia, who managed to pip them 1-0 in extra time. “I am so proud of my team,” Gomes declared. “We didn’t allow any team to score against us in the group stage and Saudi Arabia were only able to defeat us by that solitary goal during extra time in the semi-final.” Bahrain’s Zahra Ali was declared the best goalkeeper of the tournament – an award, Gomes said, was extremely well-deserved. “She’s just 18 and plays like an experienced pro,” he added. “She gave a great performance in all the games.” Meanwhile, in the final, which was played later, Iraq defeated hosts Saudi Arabia 4-2 to clinch their first championship title.