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| Abubaker Khabir (#14) bags a brace for Bahrain as they run the slow-paced Azkals to the ground. |
By Kevin Estrada
MANILA-- Bahrain rained on the Philippines homecoming, punishing the sluggard hosts with a 3-1 win in a drizzled Friday evening at the Rizal Memorial Stadium
Centre-back Abubaker Khabir became Miroslav Soukup's unlikeliest of goalscorers, scoring on each half for a brace and was backed up by Marzooq Alromaihi's injury time dagger as the Czech remains unbeaten after his third match in charge for his second win against Southeast Asian opposition, after beating Singapore in Riffa last September.
Mike Ott gave the Azkals some semblance of hope by scoring on his debut after coming on as a halftime sub, but Thomas Dooley's build-up for the homestand in November's ASEAN Championship hit a massive snag as the much bigger home side were punished by the flashy speed of the West Asians.
Khabir silenced the decent-sized crowd just four minutes in by pouncing on Ahmed Madan's cross to beat Amani Aguinaldo and Patrick Deyto from close range.
The Azkals had several chances to equalize but came closest in the 25th minute through Manny Ott but was denied by Sayed Nozar as the visitors enjoyed the slimmest of the leads heading into the break.
Khabir then doubled Bahrain's lead right at the restart with a towering header that caught the Azkals backline napping, but the dynamo from Nuremburg's reserves pulled one back just four minutes later when Martin Steuble picked him out inside of the box.
But it was not the Azkals' day when Alromaihi punished the hosts on the counter in the first minute of added time when he flicked in a header to seal the West Asian's second consecutive win over their victims.
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Centre-back Abubaker Khabir became Miroslav Soukup's unlikeliest of goalscorers, scoring on each half for a brace and was backed up by Marzooq Alromaihi's injury time dagger as the Czech remains unbeaten after his third match in charge for his second win against Southeast Asian opposition, after beating Singapore in Riffa last September.
Mike Ott gave the Azkals some semblance of hope by scoring on his debut after coming on as a halftime sub, but Thomas Dooley's build-up for the homestand in November's ASEAN Championship hit a massive snag as the much bigger home side were punished by the flashy speed of the West Asians.
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| Mike Ott was the lone bright spot for Thomas Dooley, as he scored on his debut as a half-time substitute. |
Khabir silenced the decent-sized crowd just four minutes in by pouncing on Ahmed Madan's cross to beat Amani Aguinaldo and Patrick Deyto from close range.
The Azkals had several chances to equalize but came closest in the 25th minute through Manny Ott but was denied by Sayed Nozar as the visitors enjoyed the slimmest of the leads heading into the break.
Khabir then doubled Bahrain's lead right at the restart with a towering header that caught the Azkals backline napping, but the dynamo from Nuremburg's reserves pulled one back just four minutes later when Martin Steuble picked him out inside of the box.
But it was not the Azkals' day when Alromaihi punished the hosts on the counter in the first minute of added time when he flicked in a header to seal the West Asian's second consecutive win over their victims.
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