The Bahrain national team is competing in a strong group in the Asian qualifiers for… World Cup 2026He has played in many confrontations in the recent period in which he was able to achieve some positive results, but he still has a lot to do in order to officially secure promotion to the most expensive championship in the world for national teams.
The Bahrain national team is led by Croatian coach Dragan Talaic, who achieved the historical miracle of the Jeddah Ittihad team 20 years ago in the 2004 AFC Champions League, where he was assistant coach of the Saudi team, who was dismissed after losing in the first leg of the tournament final to a South Korean team with a score of 3-1, so Dragan took over the job. He leads the team in the second leg, achieves five wins, performs a football miracle, and wins the team’s first AFC Champions League in history under difficult circumstances.
Cairo 24 continued with Croatian Dragan Talaic, coach of Bahrain, to talk about many matters related to Arab and African football.
And to the text of the dialogue:
- How do you evaluate the recent performance of the Bahraini national team in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers?
We are in a very difficult group. In my opinion, we have achieved a good result so far by obtaining 6 points in that group, which is the same number of points that Saudi Arabia, China and Indonesia have. We beat Australia 1-0, lost to Japan, and tied 2-2 with Indonesia. We played away from home with Saudi Arabia and tied favorably 1-1, and lost to China in the last moments. I am satisfied with our performance, but I have a harsh feeling about the points lost against China. We were We were a better team that night, also in the Indonesia game we deserved to win, so I’m satisfied with the performance but we could have done better.
- What is the strongest team in the Bahrain group, in your opinion?
In my opinion, the best team in our group is Japan and all the other teams are still in contention for second place. There will be an exciting end to the qualifiers, where we see ourselves as contenders for second place and direct qualifiers for the World Cup.
- Is the Bahraini national team able to qualify for the 2026 World Cup?
We were the weaker side at the start of the qualifiers, and as the matches went on, we showed that we have a good team and if we improve and fix some mistakes from previous matches, we will be a big surprise for everyone and we will be in a great position to reach the World Cup.
- What are your ambitions with the Bahrain national team? Does the team include good players?
My ambition is to prepare a good team tactically and mentally to fight for every point in the upcoming matches. We are going step by step, match by match to reach the World Cup. We have a lot of good players but the strength of our team lies in teamwork, and only as a group can we achieve our clear goal. For everyone, it’s the World Cup.
- How do you evaluate your experience in Arab clubs? Was it easy to deal with Arab players?
From my experience working in the Arab world for a long time, Arab clubs have many talented players who can play at the highest level of football but in my opinion there are some who lack a bit of tactics and work ethic.
- How do you see the personality of the Arab player in football? Did anything catch your attention in this context?
The mentality of Arab players is good, but it may vary between excessive positivity and negativity depending on the current result in the match. They must work to improve the strength of their mentality and show strength and belief in their abilities even when the result is not positive. If this improves, Arab players can become equal to any other players in the world. This is my goal too.
- Are you a good follower of African football? What is the strongest African team in your opinion? And why?
Of course, I follow African teams because they include the best players in the world of football. I respect all the major African clubs, but in my opinion, the Egyptian Al-Ahly Club is the best club on the African continent, and its results and records prove that. It is natural for me to know a lot and follow the results of the Egyptian Al-Ahly Club. It is… A great club with countless domestic titles and the most prestigious in African football, Al Ahly should be an example to all other clubs on the continent.
- Would you mind coaching an African club or national team in the future?
In the future it will be an honor to coach some of the best African teams, but at the moment my focus is entirely on my work as coach of the Bahraini national team. It is a great honor and privilege to be the coach of the Bahraini national football team.
- What do you know about Egyptian football and the Egyptian national team?
I know a lot about Egyptian football and I always follow the Egyptian League and everything that happens in Egyptian football. I know a lot of great players at this moment and through history. I know that Egypt has great clubs like the Cairo giants Al-Ahly and Zamalek, but I was surprised that the Egyptian national team did not participate in the Egyptian Cup. The world in Qatar Despite dominating the African continent, whether with clubs or the national team, in my opinion, Egypt has players who should participate in every World Cup.
- What do you think of Mohamed Salah’s performance with Liverpool? Do you think he is the best in the history of the African continent or not?
He is a first-class player and one of the best players in the world. It is difficult to say that he is the best player in Africa in history, given the fact that Africa has great players throughout the history of African football, but he is among the best of all time. I wish him many more great matches and that we have fun. For all his football magic, there is only one Mohamed Salah so we should enjoy him.
