Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
MIDFIELD maestro Mahmood 'Ringo' Abdulrahman lived up to his nickname and proved he's a STAR in his own right by keeping Bahrain's World Cup dreams alive.
The popular Bahraini who started his football career playing for his childhood heroes Muharraq believes his wonder strike against Uzbekistan was the most important of his international career.
It came in the dying minutes of the crucial tie and helped the kingdom secure the crucial third place in the table - a position they must hold on to for any chance of reaching the finals of the tournament in South Africa.
In an exclusive interview with GulfWeekly, Ringo, who was named after the Beatles drummer by teammates because of his - and his father's - uncanny resemblance to the music legend, said: "We want to qualify badly, so badly that we fought to the very end of the match.
"We were very passionate and determined to win and scoring the winning goal is a moment I will never forget. Inshallah, we will go on to the World Cup finals. This is our year.
"I have scored eight times playing for the Bahrain national team but this is by far the most important goal. And, it's about time too because the last time I scored was against Malaysia at the end of 2007."
Ringo joined Al Qadsia last year and has scored once in the three games he has played for the side which competes in the Kuwaiti Premier League.
"My dad looks like Ringo Starr from the Beatles and I look a lot like my dad," explained Ringo Junior. "My friends started calling me Ringo too during my days playing for Muharraq and it just stuck. Like father, like son, I guess!"
His family are football fanatics and his elder brother, Fahdel, 34, used to play for the Al Najma Club in Bahrain until a serious ankle injury curtailed his career and he decided to pursue a career in the energy industry.
Ringo has two sisters, Nisreen, 27, and Amira, 28. Dad, Abdulrahman is a BDF employee and his mum, Fatima, looks after the family's home in Muharraq.
He added: "I started playing football because of my father and brother, and was truly inspired by Fahdel. When my brother used to play, he would take me with him and show me how it was done. My brother made me love football.
"I got into the game at first as a hobby but then it became my career. I started with Muharraq, played for the national team and then was taken by Al Qadsia in Kuwait.
"I will always be thankful to Muharraq because the club really showed me my true potential and brought out the 'Ringo' in me. I felt like I was part of a family not just a team - a bit like the national squad of players.
"I hope to make Bahrain proud and qualify for the World Cup finals."
To make that dream a reality Bahrain must at least secure third spot in the group which would offer them the chance to play the third-placed team in Group B, currently being fought over by Iran and Saudi Arabia. The winner of that encounter would then have to face Oceania champions New Zealand for one of the last places in the Finals.
Bahrain currently sits four points adrift of Japan and eight points behind Australia in Group A with the top two sides automatically qualifying.
Quietly confident, Ringo believes catching up to Japan is not beyond the team with a vital away clash between the two sides - offering three vital points - coming up next month.
