JEDDAH: A day after Saudi Arabia ended its World Cup campaign Saudi fans shifted their support to Bahrain, their tiny Gulf neighbor which is seeking its first appearance in the showpiece soccer event. The fans felt Bahrain took care of business to advance to the next playoff match against New Zealand in contrast to their national team which looked anything but a World Cup contender.

“The question is not whether we are going to qualify or not, but what are we going to do if we qualify?” said Faisal Muhammad. He added, “the best times was in 1994 in USA, after that we failed to qualify past the group stage. If we are not going to duplicate the 1994 achievement then I think we’re better off to not qualify for the World Cup. I hope to see Bahrain qualifying along with Tunisia and either Egypt or Algeria.”

Bahrain is now one match away from realizing its dream of reaching the World Cup finals for the first time in the country’s football history. Bahrain came close to qualifying in the last World Cup when it lost the playoff match against Trinidad and Tobago 1-0.

Saudi Arabia never had to go through the playoffs in the past. The country qualified directly for the World Cup in 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2006.

Another Saudi fan, Muhsin Al-Shebani, said that we are all for Bahrain after it advanced to the final playoff match. “It was evident from the beginning that Bahrain means business. Sadly, this is not the Saudi team that we know. This was not the performance that we expected. We should have finished it from the final match in our group against North Korea. I think this will be a lesson for the Saudi team to evaluate the mistakes and start building up from the beginning.”

Zayed Al-Subaie is putting the blame on the coach. He said, “we all saw Muhammad Nur out of shape and yet he played to the end of the match. The coach should have replaced him with Al-Shalhoub or Abu Shgair. I do not know why the coach kept Naser Al-Shamrani. He was a selfish striker and not a team player. Again, the Saudi defense line and the goalkeeper took the pressure. There is no use in crying now. What is done is done. I congratulate the Bahrainis for their good performance and now our support has shifted to Bahrain. I respect the Bahraini team and I wish that they would make it to the World Cup to become the fourth Gulf team to reach the finals after Kuwait, UAE and Saudi Arabia.”