Nepal's fate will be decided within two weeks when it will compete in Group C of the AFC U-23 Championship Qualifiers scheduled for March 23-31.
Iran is hosting the Group C that also features Saudi Arabia, Palestine and Afghanistan.
Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is holding the qualifiers in different ten nations. And ten group winners and five best second-placed teams from all groups (total 15 teams) will qualify for the final competition to be held in Qatar next year, according to the AFC.
The AFC U-23 Championship 2016 also serves as the Olympics qualifiers. The top three teams from the 2016 edition will represent Asia at the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.
Team Nepal is leaving for Iran on Friday to test its luck having only 15 days of training session.
Nepal's head coach Jack Stefanowski is optimistic about qualifying for the next round as the Nepali U-23 squad includes eight players of the national team that played World Cup and Asian Cup qualifiers.
"I am excited because some young prodigies are in our team. So we have hope of qualifying for the next round," said Stefanowski.
However, he was cautious about Nepal's opponents, who he believes to be quite tough.
Nepal will face host Iran on March 23 and plays against South Asian rival Afghanistan on March 25. Nepal is scheduled to meet Saudi Arabia, runner-up of the 2013 Championship, on March 29 and will play the last match of the qualifiers against Palestine on March 31.
Although, team head coach Stefanowski upbeat about Nepal's performance, his coaching assistant Bal Gopal Maharjan opined that Nepal has slim chances of advancing into the next round because he believes the other opponents to the toughest.
"Our team needs to gel together as eight players were in the national team. We lack training," he said.
Maharjan added that playing draw against teams like Saudi Arabia, Iran and Palestine will bring modest results for Nepal.
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