Lalitpur, July 12

Nepali youth football team is on Thursday leaving for the United Arab Emirates to take part in the AFC U-23 Championship Qualifiers slated for July 15-19 at the Tahnon Bin Mohamed Stadium in Al Ain City.

Nepal are in Group D along with the UAE, Uzbekistan and Lebanon. They will begin the campaign with a match against the hosts on July 15 before taking on Uzbekistan two days later. Nepal will then face Lebanon on July 19.

The participating 39 teams have been divided into 10 groups and the winners of all the pools will earn berths in the finals along with five best runners-up. The championship will be held in China next year.

The Nepali team, under the captaincy of Bimal Gharti Magar, comprises of three goalkeepers, eight each defenders and midfielders, and four forwards.

Alan Neupane, Ashok Baral and Kishor Giri are goalkeepers, while Ananta Tamang, Dinesh Rajbanshi, Gaurav Budhathoki, Kamal Shrestha, Amit Tamang, Niraj Basnet, Tshiring Gurung and Laxman GC are defenders.

Similarly, Heman Gurung, Hemant Thapa Magar, Suman Lama, Sunil Bal, Pujan Uperkoti, Tej Tamang, Dona Thapa and Bibek Basnet are midfielders whereas Bimal Gharti Magar, Anjan Bista, Sanjog Rai and Biswash Shrestha are forwards.

Raju Kaji Shakya is head coach and Prakash Aryal is assistant coach. Sanjib Mishra is the team manager, while Raju Dahal is physiotherapist. Nepali youth team recorded a 1-0 win against Bangladesh U-23 in the friendly match played at the ANFA Complex grounds yesterday.

Meanwhile, National Sports Council Member Secretary Keshab Kumar Bista, All Nepal Football Association President Narendra Shrestha among others bade farewell to the team at a programme held at the ANFA Complex.

NSC Member Secretary Bista hoped that the Nepali team would produce winning results in the qualifiers. “The youth team’s victory over Bangladeshi team in a friendly match on Tuesday boosted Nepali players’ morale and they need to continue with the momentum in the UAE as well,” said Bista.

ANFA President Shrestha said Nepali team had the capacity of producing best results against tough opponents. “The opponents are stronger but I am sure that we will put in our best in the qualifiers. The team is a blend of experienced as well as new and talented players and their senior players’ experience will be helpful for new ones,” said Shrestha.

Likewise, head coach Shakya said Nepal’s chances of qualifying for the finals of the competition were quite tough. “However, we cannot say anything because sometime we witness unexpected results and stronger teams do face defeats. We will try our best to come up with the winning results,” said Shakya. Skipper Gharti Magar, who scored the solitary goal against Bangladesh in the friendly match, said the team was ready to face the opponents.