DHAKA: Nepal will take on four-time winners India in their crucial second league match of the sixth South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship here at the Bangabandhu Stadium on Monday.

Nepal will inch closer to the semi-finals if they win India, who are at the top of the points table with three points with a 1-0 win over Afghanistan. Nepal and Maldives have one point each after they played a 1-1 draw on Saturday. After the success in the practice matches in Kolkata and sharing a point with the defending champions Maldives, the confident Nepali side would go for a win.

The four-time winners on the contrary would like to continue their winning streak. India are the top South Asian nation in the FIFA ranking at 135th position while Nepal occupy the 173rd spot. Going

by the records, India have proved themselves as a formidable opponent. Nepal have so far played 11 matches in all competitions against India and won just two matches. The two have met twice so far in the SAFF Championship with India winning on both the occasions.

India defeated Nepal in the fourth edition 2-1 in Pakistan and the last edition saw India rout Nepal 4-0. But Nepal will be eyeing a repeat of sixth South Asian Federation (SAF) Games (1993) final when they beat India on penalties after a 2-2 draw at the same venue. The only other time Nepal beat India (3-0) was in the AFC Challenge Cup in 2006 (Chittagong).

Players will be boosted by the fact that they will have goalkeeping coach Upendra Man Singh — who saved two spot kicks in 1993 final against India — and assistant coach Maheshwor Mulmi, who had also been in charge of the team with the same responsibility.

Nepali coach Krishna Thapa said Nepal would adopt an attacking game against the team who have fielded the Under-23 squad in the tournament. It would also be a challenge for Nepal to stop the U-23 players who defeated the senior team of Afghanistan. Thapa said he would continue employing a 4-4-2 formation against India as well.

Thapa believes the team can come up with victory if they play the way they

did against Maldives and during their friendly matches in Kolkata. Since the substitute players have also come out strong, Thapa is hopeful of the repeat of Saturday’s performance.

India coach Sukhwinder Singh said they have fielded the U-23 squad to prepare a strong team for the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou and 2011 Asian Cup in Doha. Singh said his team would give the best performance in the SAFF Championship and play against Nepal better than they did against Afghanistan. Nepal coach Thapa indicated to field the same team he had opted for against Maldives.