Bahrain take on the visitors UAE in the round 1 match of Gulf Cup of Nations. The match will be played on Saturday, January 7th.
Bahrain is the reigning champion of this tournament. The tournament isn’t often event, and the last Persian Gulf tournament was already held in 2019. Bookmakers somehow do not really believe in the current champions, and in the opening match of the tournament they are exposed as outsiders. Well, I do not particularly share this opinion, because Bahrain is definitely not inferior to the UAE in terms of results. On the eve of the World Cup, Bahrain held a number of matches with teams that did not represent Asian football, well, the results were modest, but the team gained some experience by playing with Panama, Canada, and Serbia. As for the other matches of the team in 2022, there were many of them in Asia, and the results were very good, Bahrain almost never ended the match as the losing side. Yes, maybe in the upcoming meeting Bahrain cannot be called a clear favorite, but they are clearly not outsiders either.
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In general, it is surprising, of course, that such a rich and powerful country by the standards of Asia as the UAE does not have at least a more or less strong football team. With a big stretch, you can call the Emirates the middle peasants of Asian football, and nothing more. Last year the team turned out to be frankly weak in terms of results, there were very few positive results, and basically this one was defeats and draws. Well, as for the prospects of the teams for this match, and the tournament as a whole, in the group with Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait, the UAE does not look like some kind of unambiguous contender for reaching the playoffs, but naturally they can fight for the top 2. Well, in the upcoming match, here their chances of success are no higher than those of Bahrain, this one for sure. But I prefer the nominal hosts due to the fact that they had a much more confident step last year, well, Bahrain is the current champion, and of course they will try to defend their title.
In general, we can say that this match is equal opponents, and there is no particular favorite here. But, if we start to give someone an advantage, then in this situation - this should be Bahrain. UAE are rated by bookmakers a little higher, but it is rather difficult to explain this, because there are no prerequisites for this, that in this fight the Emirates will be closer to victory.
Prediction for the match: Bahrain not to lose (1X).
