The Nepali team, which will have home ground advantage, is under immense pressure to win the match against Kyrgyzstan to make it through to the final round of the tournament to be held next year after they suffered wide 3-0 loss at the hands of Yemen on Sunday.
To materialize their dream for the final round Kyrgyzstan also needs a win against the host, who in their opening match lost 4-0 to Tajikistan.
The host not only is under pressure to make it through the final round, but also to make their supporters happy who have been disappointed after the team´s performance.
Though Nepal has put up a comparatively good show in the age level football, results of the recently held U-16 has given enough room to doubt their aptitude. The U-16 team which conceded 13 goals in the entire tournament lost all the matches of the tournament.
The U-19 team is under tremendous pressure to save the face, but they have already received a blow in their first match.
The angry Nepali fans shouted slogans against the football management body and team coach after the team conceded one after another goal to make it three. However, coach Raju Shakya has accepted all the outrage in a positive spirit and has promised to put up a better performance in the next match.
Shakya has expected more from striker Nirajan Malla, who was not totally fit in the first match. Shakya, however, is confident that Nirajan will at least score a goal to end the goal drought facing Nepali team.
“If we didn´t win, we will at least try to win the heart of spectators. And I want to assure that we won´t be goalless this time,” Shakya said. Shakya also admitted that Ganesh Khadka, Nirajan, Shiva Shrestha, Sujal Shrestha and Rupesh KC could not play as expected. “They are extremely good players but they couldn´t perform well.”
In the first match at the Dasharath Stadium Yemen will play with Jordan and Tajikistan will take on Palestine.
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