It's do-or-die for Bahrain

All roads in Bahrain tonight will be leading to the National Stadium in Riffa where the kingdom's soccer fortunes will be decided in a do-or-die clash against Qatar.

A victory will certainly keep Bahrain on track for a place in the 2010 World Cup to be held in South Africa and anything less than that will mean THE END. Yet again.

It's the same scenario for Qatar too and that's what is making this clash a mouth-watering one. Nothing can be taken for granted or left to chance. Not an inch will be asked for or conceded and even the slightest of mistake can cost dear. It's clearly going to be crunch time soccer and in the end nothing will be forgotten or forgiven.

The Asian Zone World Cup qualifying campaigns of Bahrain and Qatar so far have witnessed its share of spills and thrills. Both have one victory, one draw and three losses and four points each. The Bahrainis are ahead of Qatar in fourth place only on goal difference and both the teams' chances of finishing in the top two and book an automatic berth in the World Cup finals are virtually over.

That's as clear as broad daylight if you look at the points table. But that's only one part of the story. Where Bahrain has been distinctly unlucky in not being higher up on the table, the same cannot be said of Qatar who are by contrast lucky to be still in the fray after some demoralising defeats.

All three Bahrain defeats have been by a single goal margin. More importantly, Bahrain could have won all three (or at least drawn) with a little bit of luck. The first match of the final round of qualifying against Japan at home was a classic thriller which Bahrain lost 2-3 after some heart-stopping moments towards the end.

The same was the case in their next home match against Australia. Bahrain held its own against a team with a lot of European experience, but luck still deserted them as the Aussies stole the match with a lucky goal deep into injury time.

And then on Saturday against Japan in Saitama, it was a similar story of misfortune as a Shunsuke Nakamura free kick took a cruel deflection and sailed into the net. On the other hand, Bahrain's only victory so far, away to Uzbekistan, was a wholly deserving one and put the kingdom back on track.

Qatar, by contrast, have lost 4-0 to Australia (away), 0-3 to Japan at home and on Saturday Uzbekistan (at home) bounced back with a ruthless 4-0 routing of the Gulf state. Qatar's only victory so far has been against Uzbekistan (3-0) at home.

Coincidentally, the head-to-head clash between Qatar and Bahrain in Doha ended in stalemate (1-1). But that was the match in which Bahrain showed a lot of character and scored a lot of psychological points.

If you remember it was also the match that put a big smile on the face of Bahrain coach Milan Macala and a lot of hope in the hearts of Bahraini supporters. Qatar went ahead through an early Sebastian Soria goal and then Bahrain conceded a penalty midway in the first-half.

Soria's spot kick was brilliantly saved by Bahraini goalkeeper Sayyed Mohammed Jaffar only to see Bahrain reduced to 10 men in the very next minute after Abdulla Marzooqi was sent off for a second yellow card. Bahrain's back was clearly to the wall.

But Bahrain battled on bravely and their perseverance paid off when Abdulla Fatadi finally equalised in the second-half. It was a pleasing and morale-boosting performance and Macala admitted as much after the match.

"What really pleased me was the spirit my players showed on the pitch. It was not an easy match. I think we scored a very, very important goal as far as our (World Cup qualifying) campaign is concerned. Thank God for that," Macala said.

That was in September last year and since then a lot of water has flown down the bridge. Both Bahrain and Qatar have also logged thousands of air miles since then. Bahrain are returning from Tokyo and Qatar from Tashkent. Both are entering different time zones and changing weather conditions.

The jet lag will be a crucial factor too when the two sides face each other tonight. But the comforting factor for Bahrain is the home advantage. Clearly, it's now or never for Bahrain.