Firstly, Nepali football lovers are optimistic that women´s football team will end the long title drought of Nepal in international football fraternity. [break]
Nepali national football team has been unable to win a single title in the last 17 years. Secondly, it will also be the chance for the women football team to avenge their defeat suffered at the hands of India during the controversial final in the 11th South Asian Games (SAG) held earlier this year at Dhaka, Bangladesh.
India is the only rival in the South Asain region that Nepal has not defeated a single time. The last time they had encountered India was at the SAG. Nepal had played twice against India then and were handed defeat in both matches.
First during the round robin match and another in the final as India and Nepal had secured final spot. Despite taking a 1-0 lead before the interval in the final match, marred by controversial referee decision, Nepal lost it 3-1.
Nepali team had blamed the defeat to wrong decision. And, now, Nepal has a good chance of proving that Nepali women play better football than their Indian counterparts.
"We are playing far better than previously expected," said Nepali skipper Jamuna Gurung who has been in top form and netted 10 goals in the tournament, adding, "We should continue with this in our upcoming match against Indian as well."
"We are prepared for the final. Though India is the strongest of the South Asian teams we are determined to beat them and try our best to bring result in our favor," striker Gurung, who will be assisted by Anu Lama in the attacking lineup, shared. Lama has altogether scored 11 goals in the event with three successive hat-tricks during the league stage.
Both Nepal and India are strong title contender as both of them have entered the final maintaining cent percent winning streak. Both of the finalists have not conceded a single goal until semifinal. Nepal has scored 34 and India 39 goals in their move to final and both of them will have a final opportunity to prove themselves better over other.
Looking back at the history, playing in Bangladesh has always been favorable to Nepali football. Nepali men´s football team has lifted their first title 17 years ago in Bangladesh. On that occasion too, India was the opponent vying for the title. Nepal had bagged the title with a 4-3 tiebreaker win following a goalless stalemate in the regulation and added time. However, Nepali women were defeated by India in the recent 11th SAG final.
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