Taylor gutted

BITTERLY disappointed Bahrain football coach Peter Taylor has apologised to fans after the national team’s pitiful showing in the recent Arab Cup of Nations saying the players were more interested in going home early than winning the tournament, writes Mai Al Khatib.

The side suffered a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Morocco, followed up with a 2-0 loss against minnows Yemen before finishing off the campaign with a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Libya.

The former England Under-21 coach believes Bahrain Football Association (BFA) should reconsider the viability of entering the annual end of season competition in Saudi Arabia.

Taylor, above, who took over the Bahrain hotseat 12-months ago, said: “I really want to apologise for our poor performances. It’s 100 per cent my fault because I am the head coach who selects the team.

“But the players were very tired and they admitted that they didn’t want to be there. After a long hard season if the players had been offered a good incentive to be a success in Saudi maybe that might have helped. The problem with any such tournament is that if you don’t progress then you go home early and I think that was more on the players’ minds.”

Bahrain narrowly missed out on reaching the next World Cup Finals in Brazil and many football pundits felt that if Taylor had been appointed earlier they might have made it. However, he led Bahrain to success in the first GCC Games and clinched football gold in the 2011 Arab Games in Doha.

Taylor is hoping to hold a clear-the-air meeting with BFA president Shaikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa and vice president Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Khalifa. “I am just trying to clarify the system and support that I am getting because that is what I have been slightly disappointed with since I arrived here,” he added.