Nepal-India football today: Opportunity for Nepal after 8 years

KATHMANDU: SEPT. 2 – Nepali national football team is playing its first friendly football match with India today. Nepal will compete with India at the Dasharath Stadium in Tripureshwor.

The match between Nepal and India will start at 5:30 pm. Nepal is to play two friendly matches with India to prepare for the fair championship to be held in the Maldives. The second match between Nepal and India will be played on Sunday. The SAFF Championship is scheduled to be held from October 1 to 16.

Opportunity for Nepal after 8 years

While India has the opportunity to ‘check’ its rich history, Nepal has the opportunity to add another brick to its limited success. In other words, by giving Nepal its first victory with India after 2013, it gives the message that it is strong in the SAFF championship and gives psychological pressure. Even though the game is friendly, it will send a message not only to the other team but also to other countries in South Asia.

India and Nepal first competed in the South Asian Games in 1985. The two teams have competed 19 times so far. Most of the games are played between South Asian nations. Meanwhile, Nepal and India have played only a limited number of friendly matches. However, history is only speculative in favour of Nepal. In other words, India has rarely lost to Nepal. With the exception of a few games, Nepal has always beaten India.

But the result has been in India’s favour. While India has won 13 out of 19 matches, Nepal has won only 2 matches. The remaining four games have ended in a draw. In these games, India scored 33 goals at Nepal’s post while Nepal managed to score only 9 goals. Even after 2013, there were five games between Nepal and India in which India won four games. Stopping India in a draw in one game is also considered a success for Nepal. The last time Nepal and India competed was on June 6, 2017. India won the match 2-0 in Mumbai.

After four years, both teams will be on the field to share new experiences with each other. As it will be played at home, Nepal will be in a slightly stronger position in the game. It has not been decided whether he will get the twelfth player or not. Because ANFA has not made any decision on whether to allow the spectators to watch the game or not.

The two teams will compete at Dasharath Stadium after 2015. In that match of the second leg of the World Cup qualifiers, Nepal held India to a goalless draw. Then in 2013, Nepal had an exciting 2-1 victory in the group stage of the SAFF Championship. That victory is still fresh in Nepal’s memory.

Nepali team

Goalkeepers: Kiran Kumar Limbu, Vishal Shrestha, Deep Karki, Vikesh Kuthu
Defenders: Suman Aryal, Dinesh Rajbanshi, Gautam Shrestha, Ananta Tamang, Rohit Chand
Midfielders: Suraj Jeu Thakuri, Suman Lama, Kamal Thapa Magar, Nitin Thapa, Tej Tamang, Rajan Gurung, Pujan Uparkoti, Vishal Rai, Santosh Tamang, Sujal Shrestha, Sunil Bal, Ayush Ghalan
Forwards: Manish Dangi, Anjan Bista, Nawayug Shrestha, Aashish Lama

Indian team

Goalkeepers: Amrinder Singh, Dheeraj Singh, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu
Defenders: Pritam Kotal, Chinglensana Singh, Mandar Rao Desai, Aakash Mishra, Rahul Bheke, Subhasish Bose, Seriton Fernandes
Midfielders: Lalengmawia, Vipin Singh, Anirudh Thapa, Sahal Abdul Samad, Brandon Fernandes, Liston Kolako, Yasir Mohamed, Glan Martins, Suresh Singh, Jackson Singh, Pronay Halder
Forwards: Manveer Singh, Rahim Ali, Sunil Chhetri, Farukh Choudhary