Form, head to head record Bahrain vs Japan
Bahrain caused a huge shock in their opening match when they beat Australia 1-0 away on September 5. Bahrain had lost to Australia in all four previous meetings, and the kangaroo team had a streak of 11 wins in their last 13 matches, making the result on September 5 a real surprise.
With all 3 points, coach Dragan Talajic's team is confident in competing for a ticket to the 2026 World Cup. If they cannot win one of the top 2 positions, the West Asian team still has a good chance of finishing 3rd or 4th to enter the next qualifying round. For now, they are temporarily dominating the teams in the group, China and Indonesia.
The challenge for Bahrain in the second match will be huge, when they face Japan - the team that beat China 7-0 in the opening match. "We have to forget the victory against Australia and move forward. The World Cup qualifiers are a marathon, we have 9 matches left. The whole team will fight with all their might," said Mr. Talajic.
For his part, Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu is also very wary of Bahrain. He said: “A win in the opening match means nothing before the match against Bahrain. Bahrain’s victory over Australia shows that the World Cup qualifiers will be very tough, no match will be easy.”
Statistics show that the two teams have met 13 times in all competitions. Japan has the upper hand with 10 wins, Bahrain has 2 wins, and the remaining 1 match ended in a draw. However, in the last 3 away matches against Bahrain, Japan has lost 2 matches.
Bahrain are unbeaten in their last five matches, keeping four clean sheets. The last time the West Asian team lost was a 1-3 defeat to Japan in the round of 16 of the 2023 Asian Cup.
Japan's hopes of victory are even higher because they are unbeaten in their last 14 World Cup qualifying matches, with 13 wins.
Force information
After a surprise away win over Australia, Talajic is likely to pick the same starting line-up as last week.
The big name missing from this week's squad is Bohemians striker Abdulla Yusuf Helal, who has not been called up despite a good start to life in the Czech Republic.
Despite the big win over China, Moriyasu was still able to make a number of changes to Japan's squad, with Junya Ito and Daizen Maeda both making big impacts off the bench.
Maeda scored the sixth goal, while Ito contributed to three goals in the second half. They could completely start against Bahrain.
In his unfamiliar role as left-back, Kaoru Mitoma still shone against China, but Takefusa Kubo was the star of the show with two assists to earn him the man of the match award. They are very important factors for Japan at the moment.
Overall, both teams have almost optimal lineups for this match.
The match between Bahrain and Japan will take place at 11:00 p.m. on September 10.
Expected lineups of the two teams:
Bahrain: Lutfalla, Emmanuel, Baqer, Benaddi, Al-Khalasi; Madan, Haram, Al Asfoor, Marhoon, Al Aswad, Hasan.
Japan: Suzuki, Itakura, Taniguchi, Machida, Ito, Morita, Endo, Mitoma, Kubo, Minamino, Maeda.
Score prediction: Bahrain 1-3 Japan.
