Kathmandu, April 4
Nepal will take on Vietnam in the first round qualifying match of the Women's Olympic Football Tournament here at the Dasharath Stadium on Wednesday with eyes firmly set on putting up a strong fight.
Nepal head coach Ananta Raj Thapa admitted that his side would be facing tough opponents but he refused to surrender. "The opponents are strong and we know they are playing in the World Cup. And they are much higher than us in FIFA ranking," said Thapa.
"We are training for more than a month now and the team spirit is high. We are hoping for a positive outcome from the match," added the former national team midfielder. "Olympic Qualifier first round match might be a lucky one for me as I was a part of the Nepali team that defeated Hong Kong 24 years ago and I had scored a goal against them in that match," he remembered.
Asked about injuries in the team, Thapa said he had capable substitute players to fill in the gaps.
"Injuries are parts of game and we are well prepared to replace the injured players," said Thapa, whose side played two draws against India in international friendlies in their last outing. "The India friendly matches helped us in assessing the players and the team's weaknesses. We got a chance to correct the mis-takes and build a team," he added.
"Our strength is obviously the presence of striker Sabitra Bhandari and we are expecting a tough marking on her. If Vietnam players do so, we have made a plan to take benefit out of it," said Thapa. Nepal and Vietnam will play two matches on home and away basis after Afghanistan and Palestine pulled out of the tournament.
"The withdrawals obviously made the difference but our real competition would have been against Vietnam in any case," said Thapa.
"The main objective of the team is to qualify for the second round and we will assess the match situation before making our move," he added.
Skipper Anjila Tumbapo Subba said no team wanted to face defeat after entering the pitch. "Vietnam is a tough opponent but FIFA ranking alone does not matter as we have played draws against strong teams in the past," said Subba, who was named the Player of the Year at the NNIPA Sports Award yesterday.
"Once we enter the grounds, we can produce results if we put up strong fight till the end," she said.
Nepal will face Vietnam in the return leg match on Saturday. Vietnam coach Mai Duc Chung said the matches were important for them as well. "We have not met Nepal in the past but we have obviously watched them play. They have a very good player in [jersey] number 9 [Sabitra Bhandari]," he said. Chung also said they wanted to take the tournament as a preparation for the World Cup and the withdrawals from Afghanistan and Palestine hurt their plans.
Vietnam skipper Hyunh Nhu termed Nepal as a developing team. "This is our first meeting but we are here to win the matches and we will try our best to the desired results," she said. "They have good players and we always respect our opponents," added Nhu, who plays in Portugal professional league.
A version of this article appears in the print on April 5, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
