SAFF Championship: Nepal before the competition
KATHMANDU: SEPT. 29 – Nepal is almost ready for the SAFF Championship, the biggest football tournament in South Asia. The Nepali team, which reached the Maldives directly from Qatar for the tournament, will only practice there.
Nepal will start the tournament with a match against the Maldives on Friday. The Nepali national football team has been continuously preparing for the SAFF for the past three months. Nepal had also used the World Cup qualifiers as a clear preparation. However, in the last few friendly matches, natural questions have once again arisen over the Nepali national team.
But coach Abdullah Al Mutairi has been saying that Nepal will compete for the title. Nepal has not yet reached the semi-finals. Therefore, reaching the final will be a great achievement for Nepal. Nepal had recently played two friendly matches against India at Dasharath Stadium to prepare for the tournament. Nepal drew 1-1 in the first match and lost 2-1 in the second match.
After that, the Nepali team left for Qatar to prepare. Qatar, which is preparing for the World Cup, had given Nepal an opportunity to practice Nepali team. Nepal practised in Qatar for about two weeks. Nepal also got the opportunity to play a practice match with Oman, which is 90 places above Nepal in the FIFA rankings. Coach Al Mutairi watched the game with great importance.
He described the game against Oman as a “final but important test”. But Al Mutairi did not pass the test. The exam was important to him. Oman ranked 78th in the FIFA rankings, did not play its strong squad against Nepal in the first half. Nepal stopped Oman 1-1, but in the second half, Oman fielded some experienced players and Nepal lost 7-2.
The last practice match played by Nepal before the draw in Qatar was disappointing. The game, which is believed to boost confidence, has once again brought Nepali players to the forefront. Therefore, along with the players, there is a lot of pressure on the coach Al Mutairi near the competition. Overall, Nepal’s pre-game practice has shown that Male is clearly challenging. However, Nepal will definitely be a strong rival of South Asia.
When will Nepal play with whom?
The SAFF Championship will be held for 16 days from Friday in Male, the capital of Maldives. Nepal will compete in the inaugural match against Maldives. The first match between Nepal and Maldives will be played on Friday at the National Football Stadium in Male.
Nepal will play Sri Lanka in the second match on October 4, while Nepal will play India in the third match on October 10 and Bangladesh in the final match on October 13. The top two teams in the league stage of the five-nation competition will compete for the title on October 16.
Nepali national football team
Kiran Chemjong (captain), Deep Karki, Bishal Shrestha, Aashish Lama, Anant Tamang, Anjan Bista, Ayush Ghalan, Bishal Rai, Dinesh Rajbanshi, Gautam Shrestha, Kamal Thapa, Manish Dangi, Nawayug Shrestha, Nitin Thapa, Pujan Uparkoti, Rohit Chand, Santosh Tamang, Sujal Shrestha, Suman Aryal, Suman Lama, Sunil Bal, Surajiu Thakuri and Tej Tamang.
