Former England under-21 manager Peter Taylor will be aiming for a winning start as the new coach of Bahrain when it hosts Gulf neighbour Qatar on Friday in Asian qualifying for the 2014 World Cup.
Qatar, which will host the 2022 World Cup, will also have a new coach in Brazilian Sebastiao Lazaroni.
Bahrain is one of five nations that received byes through to the third round and will be playing against the backdrop of political unrest in the island nation.
Lazaroni takes over from former Ghana World Cup coach Milovan Rajevac who was surprisingly fired despite the team beating Vietnam in the second round.
Friday's game may be the group opener but it looms as a potentially vital one.
The other teams in Group E, Iran and Indonesia, are expected to finish top and bottom of the group respectively, leaving Bahrain and Qatar to fight out the second spot which yields a place in the fourth round.
Taylor, best remembered for guiding modest Leicester City temporarily to the top of the Premier League, will be missing a handful of key players for the clash, including influential skipper Mohammed Salmeen and Nigerian-born duo Jaycee John Okwunwanne and Abdulla Fatai.
Salmeen is currently nursing an injury and is expected to be back in time for when Bahrain travel to Tehran for their third qualifying match on October 11.
Okwunwanne and Fatai have been left off of Taylor's 24-man squad for the match, along with a few others.
The hosts will thus be spearheaded by the likes of international regulars Salman Isa, Mahmood Abdulrahman, Faouzi Aaish and Abdulla Ismail Omar and Ismaeel Abdullatif.
Heading into Friday's game, the Bahrainis are coming off a 1-0 victory over Sudan in a friendly played at home last week.
They had also recently beaten United Arab Emirates club side Bani Yas 3-0 after drawing 1-1 with Oman in an abandoned friendly during their July training camp in Dubai.
Qatar, who arrived in Bahrain on Wednesday (August 31, 2011), are reeling from back-to-back losses in friendly games the past fortnight. They had previously bowed to Iraq 1-0 at home before falling to the Emiratis 3-1 in Al Ain.
Bahrain will be hoping to claim a much-needed victory as the tiny kingdom struggles to create some good news on the sporting front.
Due to the anti-government protests that took place earlier this year, the 2011 Formula One Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix needed to be called off, and, most recently, it was announced that Bahrain's Volvo Golf Champions tournament is being taken off 2012 European Tour calendar.
World Cup qualification would be a dream not only for Bahrain, but for Taylor as well. "It's a target, definitely," 58-year-old Taylor said upon signing with Bahrain.
"I would love to be the first manager to get Bahrain to the World Cup. That would be something that would make me very proud, and I'm sure all of Bahrain as well."
Bahrain was beaten by New Zealand in an intercontinental playoff for a place in the 2010 World Cup.
Lazaroni brings vast international experience to the Qatar job. He was coach of his native Brazil in the successful 1989 Copa America campaign and 1990 World Cup, and had also managed the Jamaica national team.
The 61-year-old had coached several of the big club in Brazil, including Flamengo, Vasco de Gama, Gremio and Botafogo, plus several club sides around the world including Fiorentina and Fenerbahce.
Qatar, which will host the 2022 World Cup, will also have a new coach in Brazilian Sebastiao Lazaroni.
Bahrain is one of five nations that received byes through to the third round and will be playing against the backdrop of political unrest in the island nation.
Lazaroni takes over from former Ghana World Cup coach Milovan Rajevac who was surprisingly fired despite the team beating Vietnam in the second round.
Friday's game may be the group opener but it looms as a potentially vital one.
The other teams in Group E, Iran and Indonesia, are expected to finish top and bottom of the group respectively, leaving Bahrain and Qatar to fight out the second spot which yields a place in the fourth round.
Taylor, best remembered for guiding modest Leicester City temporarily to the top of the Premier League, will be missing a handful of key players for the clash, including influential skipper Mohammed Salmeen and Nigerian-born duo Jaycee John Okwunwanne and Abdulla Fatai.
Salmeen is currently nursing an injury and is expected to be back in time for when Bahrain travel to Tehran for their third qualifying match on October 11.
Okwunwanne and Fatai have been left off of Taylor's 24-man squad for the match, along with a few others.
The hosts will thus be spearheaded by the likes of international regulars Salman Isa, Mahmood Abdulrahman, Faouzi Aaish and Abdulla Ismail Omar and Ismaeel Abdullatif.
Heading into Friday's game, the Bahrainis are coming off a 1-0 victory over Sudan in a friendly played at home last week.
They had also recently beaten United Arab Emirates club side Bani Yas 3-0 after drawing 1-1 with Oman in an abandoned friendly during their July training camp in Dubai.
Qatar, who arrived in Bahrain on Wednesday (August 31, 2011), are reeling from back-to-back losses in friendly games the past fortnight. They had previously bowed to Iraq 1-0 at home before falling to the Emiratis 3-1 in Al Ain.
Bahrain will be hoping to claim a much-needed victory as the tiny kingdom struggles to create some good news on the sporting front.
Due to the anti-government protests that took place earlier this year, the 2011 Formula One Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix needed to be called off, and, most recently, it was announced that Bahrain's Volvo Golf Champions tournament is being taken off 2012 European Tour calendar.
World Cup qualification would be a dream not only for Bahrain, but for Taylor as well. "It's a target, definitely," 58-year-old Taylor said upon signing with Bahrain.
"I would love to be the first manager to get Bahrain to the World Cup. That would be something that would make me very proud, and I'm sure all of Bahrain as well."
Bahrain was beaten by New Zealand in an intercontinental playoff for a place in the 2010 World Cup.
Lazaroni brings vast international experience to the Qatar job. He was coach of his native Brazil in the successful 1989 Copa America campaign and 1990 World Cup, and had also managed the Jamaica national team.
The 61-year-old had coached several of the big club in Brazil, including Flamengo, Vasco de Gama, Gremio and Botafogo, plus several club sides around the world including Fiorentina and Fenerbahce.
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