Match against Iraq crucial, says Shrestha

Kathmandu, September 19

Nepal youth team head coach Sunil Kumar Shrestha said Nepal’s fate in the AFC U-16 Championship Qualifiers would depend on the outcome of their first match slated for Wednesday at the Nepal APF Club grounds on Wednesday.

Nepal will take on defending champions Iraq after the match between India and Palestine. The participating 44 nations have been divided into 10 groups and the winners of all pools along with five best runners-up will qualify for next year’s finals to be hosted by Malaysia.

“As Iraq are one of the toughest teams in the group, our fate in the championship will depend on the results of the first match,” said Shrestha at a pre-match press meet today. “Getting all three points will be our main target as that will motivate our players. If things go wrong in the first match, that will affect throughout the competition,” added Shrestha.

However, Shrestha said that his side was prepared well for the qualifiers. “We had been preparing for the Qualifiers before the SAFF U-15 Championship. As the team is well prepared, we are hoping to earn a berth in the finals,” said Shrestha. Nepal hosted the SAFF U-15 Championship last month with India, one of the participating nations of the qualifiers, claiming the title beating Nepal 2-1 in final. “The U-15 matches also helped our players a lot.”

Iraq head coach Ali Hadi said his target was to be the group winners and qualify for the championship. “We are the defending champions and we have prepared well for the qualifiers. Although the game against Nepal will be a difficult one, we are hopeful of producing victory in our opening match,” said Hadi, who rated all the participating nations as tough opponents. “It would not be easy to beat the teams,” Hadi added.