Bahrain vs Australia Prediction & Betting Tips - International Friendlies

Prediction published on 04/01/2024, 12:39  by Joseph King | Modified on 06/01/2024 at 01:00 in Football Predictions

Bahrain take on Australia for an international friendly at the Baniyas Stadium in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday. This is the final preparation match that both teams will have before the start of the Asian Cup in less than two weeks time. Australia’s last time taking to the pitch back in November of 2023 resulted in back-to-back wins for the Socceroos in a pair of World Cup qualifiers. They demolished Bangladesh 7-0 before taking care of Palestine by a score of 1-0, resulting in Graham Arnold’s men sitting at the top of their qualification group. It was the third consecutive victory for the Aussies  who have a record of 4-1-3 since the end of the 2022 World Cup. Australia’s only losses during that time have come against England, Argentina and Ecuador, the latter of which they were also able to beat 3-1.

Bahrain will be looking forward to an Asian Cup group stage which includes South Korea, Jordan and Malaysia. It will likely come down to a head-to-head matchup between themselves and similarly ranked Jordan as to which team will accompany South Korea in the knockout stages. The Red Devils would love to pick up a win over the much higher FIFA ranked Australia which would give them a massive confidence boost ahead of their Asian Cup opener against the South Koreans. Bahrain got their AFC World Cup qualifying campaign off to a decent strat in November with a 2-0 win over Yemen before a 2-0 defeat to the UAE. The results have Juan Antonio Pizzi’s men sitting second in their qualifying table. The defeat to UAE snapped a three game winning streak and a four game unbeaten run. Bahrain have also accumulated a record of 4-1-3 since the end of the Gulf Cup.