ANFA announces 23-man squad for Yemen game

KATHMANDU: All Nepal Football Association on Monday has announced a 23-man squad for tomorrow's game against Yemen for the AFC 2019 Asia Cup qualifiers, at the APF Halchok ground.

Earlier, as part of preparations for the AFC home game against Yemen, Nepal played one-off international friendly game against the sourthern neighbour India on June 6.

Nepal's head coach Koji Gyotoku has retained most of the players who played against the Indians in Mumbai. Nepal were beaten 2-0 by the hosts.

Organising a press meet at ANFA on the eve of a much-awaited encounter, Nepal's head coach Koji was hopeful of putting a better display against a physically and technically better Yemeni team.

Similarly, Nepal's skipper Biraj Maharjan said of displaying a resolute defending against the Yemen team and remained confident of defeating them infront of their own home crowd.

Maharjan also echoed that the team's defeat to India was due to poor defending. He also said Nepal would play to win tomorrow's affair.

Meanwhile, Yemeni head coach was optimistic of defeating Nepal and securing a better position for qualifying to the next round of the competition.

Alan Neupane, Anil Gurung, Man Bahadur Tamang, Dinesh Rajbansi, Sunil Bal and Rajendra Rawal were included in the roster where as Bishal Shrestha, Bimal Basnet, Suman Lama were axed.

Anil Gurung has made a come back to the national fold after being axed of a recent India tour and have been left out on bench in recent encounters. He seems to be heading into the final stages of his international career.

As of latest FIFA ranking, Yemen rank 124th positions to Nepal's 169th.

The United Arab Emirates is hosting the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.

Nepal Squad:

Goalkeepers: Bikesh Kuthu, Kiran Kumar Limbu, Alan Neupane

Defenders: Biraj Maharjan, Ananta Tamang, Aditya Chaudhary, Kamal Shrestha, Devendra Tamang, Jitendra Karki, Dinesh Rajbansi and Man Bahadur Tamang

Midfielders: Rohit Chand, Sujal Shrestha, Bishal Rai, Anjan Bista, Hemanta Thapa Magar, Rajendra Rawal, Heman Gurung and Sunil Bal

Forwards: Nawayug Shrestha, Bharat Khawas, Anil Gurung and Bimal Gharti Magar

Koji Gyotoku is the head coach, Raju Shakya is his assistant, Ujjwal Manandhar is the goalkeeping coach and Raju Dahal is the physio of the team.

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