Shillong, February 14

Nepali football will face litmus test when both men and women teams face India in the final of the 12th South Asian Games on Monday.

While the women’s team will be looking to end the final jinx against hosts India, the men’s team will be eyeing history to become the first team to win gold in 23 years. Nepali women have not won against India in final in their previous four finals, while their male counterpart won bronze in 2006 in their best finish since 1999 SAF Games.

The Nepali teams reached final in contrasting fashion. The women’s team remained unbeaten in the five-team round-robin league to finish first ahead of India, while the men’s team finished runners-up in group stage and almost squandered a 2-0 first-half lead before Nawayug Shrestha scored two goals in three minutes in Sunday’s semi-final victory over Maldives in extra time. The women’s team is playing fifth final in six years, while the men’s team is in final after 17 years.

Head coach of men’s team Raju Kaji Shakya said his boys were pumped up for the final against India despite playing for 120 minutes in the semi-final match. “I have seen hunger in the players to win gold medal in the South Asian Games,” said Shakya, the gold-medal winning skipper of 1993 SAF Games squad. “As the players are tired after the Maldives match, we will have light training to provide them with adequate rest for the final,” he added.

Shakya said he would go with full strength against India despite having some injury concerns to striker Bimal Gharti Magar, midfielder Anjan Bista and goalkeeper Bikesh Kuthu. “Doctors have given green light and we do not have choice to play.” Shakya said of Kamal Shrestha, who was expelled in the semi-final match, would be missed in defense. “We shifted Anjan Bista in the defense after Shrestha received red card and the midfielder did full justice to the new role. We also have Man Bahadur Tamang and Dinesh Rajbhandari in the squad, but we will definitely miss the services of Shrestha at the back,” said Shakya.

Shakya said India were always a tough team in the South Asian region. “They are always the team to beat in our region and they will also have advantage,” said Shakya. “We will have to stop them from scoring if we are to win the match. The team is looking forward to beat India on their home soil and win gold medal,” he added.

Skipper Biraj Maharjan said the team did a miracle in the semi-final and the players were highly motivated after the win over Maldives. “The team put up a lot of hard works for 120 minutes in the semi-finals. Actually that was a miracle and that match has raised our confident level for the final,” he added.

The women’s team also looked confident on the eve of final match. Head coach Dhruba Bahadur KC said the home team would be under pressure. “We will not be under pressure as they are the ones who have been winning all the final till today,” said KC. “We will go all out against India and the players are confident. We just need to maintain the spirit of previous matches,” he added.

KC said the Indian team was strong in all areas and Nepal needed to stop them from scoring. “We also have a good team and our defenders will have to keep extra efforts to stop them from scoring,” he added. “We have the best-ever defense line up with us, so we are confident enough to clinch gold medal this time around.”

Skipper Anu Lama said the morale of the team was high after the draw against India in the league match. “We believe that both the teams are of same standard and we will go with offensive strategy. We are confident of overcoming India this time around as all the players are excited to return home with gold medal,” she said.