Kathmandu, August 11

National league champions Three Star Club are gearing up their preparations for the Qualifying Play-off of the AFC Cup 2017 with eyes firmly set on to finishing as the league-round winners.

The Patan-based club are in Group B along with hosts Erchim FC and Nagaworld FC of Cambodia in the qualifying play-off to be held in Mongolia from August 21-25. Three Star are scheduled to play Erchim on 21 before playing against Nagaworld two days later.

They will leave for Mongolia on August 16.

Similarly, Dordoi (Kyrgyzstan) will host Casa Benfica (Macau) and Rovers FC (Guam) in Group A matches, while FC Tertons (Bhutan) are in Group C along with Sheikh Russel Krira Chakra Ltd (Bangladesh) and Tatung FC (Chinese Taipei).

The three group winners will qualify for the play-off round, which will serve as the qualifiers for the finals of the competition.

“We have been preparing for the event for the last one month with the target of finishing as group winners and make into the next round of the competition,” said Three Star head coach Meghraj KC. “We have focused on fitness training since we are set to play international matches and also working on team work,” he added.

Among the three teams, Three Star are Nepal’s national league champions, while Erchim are the Mongolian premier league winners and Nagaworld FC are Cambodian league runners-up of 2015.

The teams were picked up following their FIFA Rankings of June 2016.

“I am not well aware about the opponents, but as per the FIFA ranking, all three teams are of the same level and we are capable of beating them,” said KC.

In the FIFA rankings, Nepal are on 188th position, while Cambodia on 180th and Mongolia on 202nd spot.

Nagaworld are new for Three Star, whereas the Nepali team has already faced Erchim twice and has upper hand against them. Three Star defeated Erchim 2-0 in the group stage of the 2013 AFC President’s Cup at the Dasharath Stadium in Kathmandu and played a 1-1 draw in the finals held in Malaysia the same year.

“We (players) lacked fitness level when coach took charge of the team. The regular training has helped us in regaining stamina and the two friendly matches have shown that we can playing full 90 minutes with pace,” said midfielder Bikram Lama, also the member of national team.

“The fitness problems were seen due to lack of games. We have not played much matches recently,” lamented Lama.

In recent friendly matches, Three Star defeated Armed Police Force (APF) Club 5-0 and played a 1-1 draw against Tribhuvan Army Club at the artificial turf of ANFA Complex. “The friendly matches helped us to learn team’s progress, weaknesses and the areas of improvements,” said coach KC, adding that the training on artificial turf was helpful.

Although coach and players were hopeful of positive results, they lamented for not getting enough time for training. “The training period is not enough for the international competitions and we also did not have other options than getting in shape within the time frame and shaping the team,” said KC.

“But we have six players from the current national team and rising young talents along with former national players.”

Alen Neupane, Binay Shrestha and Abishek Baral are goalkeepers, while Ranjit Dhimal, Devendra Tamang, Peter Segun, Bijay Dhimal, Saroj Dahal and Bishnu Sunuwar are defenders.

Likewise, Bikram Lama, Nirajan Khadka, Prakash Budhathoki, Sunil Bal, Bijay Gurung and Bishnu Gurung are mid-fielders.

Buddha Raj Limbu, Ashim Jung Karki, Roshan Malla, Martins and Sushan Shrestha are forwards.