Lalitpur, July 10

Nepali national U-23 football team head coach Raju Kaji Shakya said he would be looking for a injury-free encounter while playing against Bangladesh U-23 in a friendly match here at the ANFA Complex on Tuesday.

Nepali team is playing the friendly as part of preparation for the AFC U-23 Qualifiers slated for July 15-19 in the United Arab Emirates. Nepal are in Group D along with the hosts UAE, Uzbekistan and Lebanon.

Coach Shakya said the matches of the qualifiers were important for the team than the friendly match against Bangladesh. “I don’t want my players to get injured just a couple of days ahead of the qualifiers. We have prepared the team strategy in such a way that no player gets injured,” said Shakya at a pre-match press conference today.

However, he said that the team would go for a win against the South Asian rivals. He has also taken the match as a platform to judge team’s strength and weakness. “The match will help us to know about the level of our team as we have done the preparation for the Qualifiers in a short time period,” said Shakya.

The coach, however, lamented the management for not arranging tough teams for friendly matches. “The teams we face in the Qualifiers are comparatively tough and we are playing a friendly against a team of the same level. It would have been better had we got the chance to face tough teams similar to those in our group,” said Shakya, the SA Games gold medal winning player and coach.

Skipper Bimal Gharti Magar said the team was ready for the friendly match. “Since the majority of the players in the squad are playing together for a longer time, the team is united and well prepared. The team is also in good shape as we have 10 members from the national team,” said skipper Gharti Magar.

Meanwhile, Bangladeshi team head coach Andrew Ord said the friendly match against the home team would be a tough one. “I have watched Nepal playing against India and Yemen and they are very powerful and aggressive,” said Ord.

Coach Ord also said the match would be beneficial for the Qualifiers. Bangladesh are pitted in Group E along with Jordan, Tajikistan and Palestine. “It would be difficult for us to qualify for the finals of the championship as the teams are tough in the group. We hope the friendly match would help us in our bid to qualify,” he added.

Likewise, Bangladeshi skipper Sohel Rana said his side was positive about producing winning result against Nepal. “Our team comprises of young players and the victory over Nepal would be a morale booster for the Qualifiers,” said Rana.