25 players selected for AFC U-16

KATHMANDU, Sept 22: The All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) has shortlisted 25 players for the AFC U-16 group ´B´ qualifiers to be held at Dasharath Stadium from October 5- 15. Only two among them will be eliminated in the final selection to be held a week later, informed Dambar Gurung, the chief coach of the squad. They were shortlisted from among 34 players after conducting training for about a month. [break]

The selected players will undergo training during the Dashain festival also. "As the qualifiers will start soon after Dashain, we are not taking any breaks for the festival which would hamper the players´ performance," said Gurung, the chief coach of the team.

The team undergoes two training sessions a day -- morning and afternoon. During morning camp players are undergoing fitness training from 6-8am at ANFA Complex, Satdobato. In evening, they are taking technical and tactical training at Buddhibikash Mandal, Lalitpur.

"Though the training has been satisfactory so far, we lack experience as we have not played with seasoned teams," Gurung said. "We are playing practice match with team comprising casino players, which won´t be sufficient." They are scheduled to play a practice match with U-19 team on Thursday.

Among the selected 25 players, a majority are ANFA Academy products. Four of them--defender Raju Alemagar, mid-fielders Raju Khadka, Pemba Jangbo Sherpa and forward Roshan Rai were picked through open selection. The ANFA had organized open selection across the nation on August\September.

Among 46 member nations of the Asian Football Confederation, 45 are contesting in the qualifying round. Six teams each are fielded in group ´A´ to ´G´ while ´H´ consists of three teams. The top two teams from each group other than ´H´ (only one) will qualify for the final round. One of the best second runners up team from ´A´ to ´G´ will also vie for the final round making a total of 16 teams.

Nepali U-16 Team

Goalkeepers: Laxman Thapa, Ashok Baral, Purna Bahadur Kumal.

Defenders: Suman Shrestha, Ujjan Lama, Manoj Bista Chhetri, Kushal Shrestha, Kalu Thapa Ramjali, Shivaram Giri, Man Bahadur Tamang, Raju Ale Magar.

Mid-fielders: Laxman Bahadur Mahat, Sulav Maskey, Santosh Thapa, Hem Bahadur Tamang, Samir Limbu, Ganesh Thapa Magar, Raju Khadka, Pemba Jangbo Sherpa.

Forwards: Amar Dangol, Phurba Tshering Yonjan, Avinav Joshi, Roshan Rai, Surya Gurung, Ram Thapa.