November 18 – Countries don’t normally sack coaches in the middle of competitions but such is the element of pride in Asia that Bahrain are looking for a new coach for the second time in just over four months after Iraqi Adnan Hamad (pictured) was dismissed in the wake of the country’s poor start to the Gulf Cup.
Hamad had been expected to guide the team into January’s Asian Cup after replacing Anthony Hudson on a two-year deal when the Englishman quit suddenly in late July to take charge of New Zealand.
Bahrain drew their first Gulf Cup Group A match against Yemen before a 3-0 defeat to hosts Saudi Arabia left them needing a win against Qatar on Wednesday to have any chance of qualifying for the semi-finals.
“The Bahraini Football Association held an urgent meeting … to discuss the Bahraini national team’s poor performance and negative results in the Gulf Cup,” the Bahrain Football Association said in statement.
“The Bahrain Football Association has released the national team’s coach Adnan Hamad and assigned national assistant coach Marjan Eid to lead the team for the rest of the tournament.”
Hamad was Asia’s coach of the year in 2004 in one of several spells in charge of his native Iraq and led Jordan to the quarter-finals of the 2011 Asian Cup.
He was hailed as hero in the qualifying campaign for last summer’s World Cup during which the Jordanians got close to a surprise place in the finals in Brazil after beating both Australia and Japan. But he announced he was quitting before the winner-takes-all playoff against Uruguay when Jordan ultimately came up short.
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