KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 22

National football team acting head coach Pradip Humagain today announced the 23-member squad including all 10 players who were ousted from the national team by former coach Abdullah Almutairi.

In a rare practice of announcing the national squad through press conference, Humagain said the team members were selected on merit basis and that his side was the best one. 'All the team members including the coaching staff have put in their best efforts in training and we are expecting a positive outcome from the match,' said Humagain. The one-off international friendly match is scheduled for September 27 at the Dasharath Stadium.

The coaching team, which also includes assistant coach Yugal Kishor Rai and goalkeeping coach Binod Dangol, have named four goalkeepers in Kiran Kumar Limbu, Bishal Shrestha, Deep Karki and Bikesh Kuthu. Humagain said the team did not want to take risk on the custodian. 'We have already faced a problem in goalkeeping. At one stage, all three available goalkeepers were either injured or down with illness. That's why are going with four goalkeepers for the match,' said Humagain.

Humagain included Rohit Chand, Ananta Tamang, Bikash Tamang, Bikash Khawas, Dinesh Rajbanshi, Suman Aryal and Ranjit Dhimal in defense. Likewise, Sudip Gurung, Tej Tamang, Sesehang Angdembe, Bishal Rai, Sujal Shrestha, Suraj Jeu Thakuri and Arik Bista are the midfielders in the team, while Bimal Gharti Magar, Anjan Bista, Hrithik Khadka, Manish Dangi and Ashish Chaudhary are the forwards.

The All Nepal Football Association had decided to recall all 10 footballers - who were allegedly kicked out by the then head coach Almutairi - in the national squad, and Humagain named all of them in the 23-member team for the friendly match. But Humagain refused to accept he was under pressure to include them in the squad. 'I do not know anything about the incident and I chose the players as per their performance in the training,' said Humagain.

While Humagain included new faces Hrithik Khadka and Ashish Chaudhary in the team, forward Nawayug Shrestha - who led the national team in the Asian Cup Qualifier in the absence of Kiran Kumar Limbu - could not make the cut along with Sunil Bal, Awash Lamichhane, Sanjok Rai, Abhishek Rijal, Bharat Khawas and Ayush Ghalan. 'All players are equally important but Nawayug Shrestha was not considered in the final squad for a couple of reasons, while some of the players are also down with dengue,' said Humagain.

Asked about Ghalan, who was red carded for showing middle finger to Bangladeshi opponent during the AFC U-20 Asian Cup Qualifiers in Uzbekistan earlier this week, coach Humagain said the player's wrong behaviour also played a part in his exclusion.

'He was with the U-20 team but that incident played psychological role for not considering him in the team,' he said. 'We were not happy with his behaviour and that is not acceptable. It's up to the ANFA to decide on this matter,' he added.

A version of this article appears in the print on September 23, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.