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Post Report,KATHMANDU, AUG 01 -
The Dashrath Stadium has had a busy calendar for the last couple of months, hosting national and international tournaments. From Monday, the venue will add more event to its portfolio when it host the South Asian U-16 Football Championship.
The event will be a litmus test for the participating six South Asian nations — Nepal, India, Pakistan, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh — of effectiveness of their respective youth development programmes. Though, age group tournaments have been a regular feature of the Asian Football Confederation calendar, it is the first of its kind in South Asia. Out of the eight South Asian countries, Bhutan and Afghanistan have missed out the events due to their internal problems.
The six participating teams have been divided into two groups — India, Maldives and Pakistan in Group A and Nepal Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in Group B. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the semi-finals to be held on Aug. 8.
India will entertain Pakistan in the opening match on Monday, while Nepal have their first match against Bangladesh on the fourth day on Thursday.
Host Nepal are confident of a good showing. Nepal coach Sunil Shrestha said they have been preparing for the event for the past three months. He believes the team can go a long way due to the home advantage. He however rued the lack of practice matches with local teams.
“The boys are excited for the event and are a talented side. If only we had got a chance to play practice matches, it would have been a lot better,” said Shrestha.
Nepal had a good reputation in age group football tournament until 2009 when they crashed out of the AFC U-16 qualifiers in Kathmandu without scoring a single goal. This event will be a perfect chance to mend their image, believes Mrigendra Mishra, who is assisting Shrestha in coaching the team.
“I am satisfied at the ways the boys have performed in the past couple of months. The home result in the World Cup qualifiers against Jordan has also boosted the confidence of the players,” added Mishra.
Meanwhile, host All Nepal Football Association said it had completed all the necessary preparations for the event. Rs 3 million has been estimated to be spent on the 10-day event.
Nepal squad: GK: Birendra Chand, Brijesh Singh, Alan Neupane. DF: Sanjaya Rajbahak, Aditya Choudhary, Biswas Shrestha, Bibek Basnet, Nabin Gurung, Anjan Lakhya, Kundan Gurung. MF: Heman Gurung, Rungri Rai, Anil Gurung, Sagar Lama, Prabal Thapa, Firan Mangranti, Shikhar Kafle, Umesh Thapa, Yougal Pandey. FW: Suraj Hamal, Rishi Thapa, Suman Lama, Krishna Raj Lama.
The Dashrath Stadium has had a busy calendar for the last couple of months, hosting national and international tournaments. From Monday, the venue will add more event to its portfolio when it host the South Asian U-16 Football Championship.
The event will be a litmus test for the participating six South Asian nations — Nepal, India, Pakistan, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh — of effectiveness of their respective youth development programmes. Though, age group tournaments have been a regular feature of the Asian Football Confederation calendar, it is the first of its kind in South Asia. Out of the eight South Asian countries, Bhutan and Afghanistan have missed out the events due to their internal problems.
The six participating teams have been divided into two groups — India, Maldives and Pakistan in Group A and Nepal Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in Group B. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the semi-finals to be held on Aug. 8.
India will entertain Pakistan in the opening match on Monday, while Nepal have their first match against Bangladesh on the fourth day on Thursday.
Host Nepal are confident of a good showing. Nepal coach Sunil Shrestha said they have been preparing for the event for the past three months. He believes the team can go a long way due to the home advantage. He however rued the lack of practice matches with local teams.
“The boys are excited for the event and are a talented side. If only we had got a chance to play practice matches, it would have been a lot better,” said Shrestha.
Nepal had a good reputation in age group football tournament until 2009 when they crashed out of the AFC U-16 qualifiers in Kathmandu without scoring a single goal. This event will be a perfect chance to mend their image, believes Mrigendra Mishra, who is assisting Shrestha in coaching the team.
“I am satisfied at the ways the boys have performed in the past couple of months. The home result in the World Cup qualifiers against Jordan has also boosted the confidence of the players,” added Mishra.
Meanwhile, host All Nepal Football Association said it had completed all the necessary preparations for the event. Rs 3 million has been estimated to be spent on the 10-day event.
Nepal squad: GK: Birendra Chand, Brijesh Singh, Alan Neupane. DF: Sanjaya Rajbahak, Aditya Choudhary, Biswas Shrestha, Bibek Basnet, Nabin Gurung, Anjan Lakhya, Kundan Gurung. MF: Heman Gurung, Rungri Rai, Anil Gurung, Sagar Lama, Prabal Thapa, Firan Mangranti, Shikhar Kafle, Umesh Thapa, Yougal Pandey. FW: Suraj Hamal, Rishi Thapa, Suman Lama, Krishna Raj Lama.
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