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THE SMILES were back on the faces of Bahrain's soccer aces after they set aside their World Cup woes for some regional cup glory.
They made no mistake of slipping up against lesser opposition as an Ismail Abdullateef hat-trick helped Bahrain to a thumping 4-0 victory over Hong Kong in a Group A qualifier to join Japan in winning a berth in the finals of the 2011 Asian Cup.
Earlier, Japan survived a scare before scoring a thrilling 3-2 victory over Yemen in Sana'a in another Group A match as the Japanese posted their fourth successive victory.
Both teams have 12 points and hold an identical goal difference of plus 11 - although Bahrain have two matches in hand compared to Japan's one. Bahrain also beat their bitter rivals on home ground in January last year.
Hong Kong, yet to score a point after five matches, were out of the running even before last Wednesday's clash while Yemen's slim chances were dashed by Japan and they stay on three points.
Bahrain coach Milan Macala was also a happy man at the end of the match. "It was a good match but I think my players settled for the half-time score. But the main thing was to qualify and now that we have achieved it, we are not bothered too much about the final score line," said the Czech.
Bahrain took time to settle but once Abdullateef made the breakthrough in the 35th minute the action was uninterrupted one-way traffic.
Abdullateef was on target again in the 41st and 44th minutes to put his team well on its way to Doha, Qatar, for next year's Asian Cup finals.
Abdulla Al Dhakeel completed the rout, scoring the fourth goal in the 75th minute. Bahrain should have added to their tally in the second-half but missed the target time and time again.
Abdullateef had an effort disallowed for offside in the 22nd minute and Salman Isa came close with a header in the 28th before Fouzi Aaish shook the crossbar with a well-taken free-kick from the edge of the penalty area.
It was well-deserved victory for the kingdom which had mourned a second failed attempt to make it to the World Cup finals following a disappointing 1-0 loss to New Zealand in the Asia-Oceania play-off in November.
The Bahrainis were missing the bus to that showpiece event for the second time, having lost to Trinidad and Tobago at exactly the same stage four years ago.
Last Wednesday was Bahrain's second successive victory by a four-goal margin following a similar result against Yemen which came just four days after the 1-0 World Cup qualifying play-off defeat to New Zealand.
The crowd was sparse but noisy and it was heartening to hear the cheers for defender Sayed Mohammed Adnan whose family suffered abuse after the Asian Footballer of the Year runner-up missed a crucial penalty in the Wellington fixture.
More performances like this and it will not be long before the fans come flooding back.
