Come on, Bahrain!

It was heady stuff, and I thought quite appropriate too as it matched the mood of the nation: the Bahrain soccer team was after all the toast of the Kingdom and just 90 minutes away from booking a place in the 2006 World Cup.

The expectations were so huge that when the bubble burst at the National Stadium a few days later with a defeat to Trinidad and Tobago, there was no place to hide, either for the players, officials or the fans.