Youth team confident of defending U-18 title

Lalitpur, September 15

Nepali youth football team is on Saturday leaving for Bhutan to take part in the SAFF U-18 Championship slated to be held at the Chalimithang Stadium in Thimpu from September 18-27.

A total of five teams — hosts Bhutan, Nepal, India, Bangladesh and Maldives — will compete in the tournament to be played under round robin format. The team with maximum points after the league matches will win the title of the championship.

Nepal had won the first edition of the Championship defeating India in penalty shootout at the ANFA Complex grounds in 2015. Although, first edition was played among U-19 teams in 2015, the tournament has officially been changed as the U-18 from this year.

Speaking at a farewell programme, All Nepal Football Association President Shrestha asked the players to showcase their talent on pitch. He said: “You will also get to learn a lot from competition and we are confident that the team will return as victors.”

Nepal will open the campaign with a match against hosts Bhutan on September 20 before facing Maldives two days later. Nepal will then play against Bangladesh on September 25 and face India in their last match two days later.

Head coach Chhiring Lopsang said the preparation period for the team was not enough unlike in the first edition. “Previously the players used to spend more than a year playing together at the ANFA Academy. But this time around, the players joined each other from different clubs based on their performance in the Lalit Memorial U-18 Tournament,” said Lopsang. “It took us more than a month to select the players and we got nearly two weeks to prepare for the championship. But we will try our best to defend title in Bhutan.”

Skipper Arpan Karki said the team was well prepared for the event and players were ready to defend the title. “The players have good coordination among them and most of the team members played together in the past. We are capable of defending the title,”  he said.