After the completion of eight matches of the league, and both Jhapa and Police having lost their opening matches are eager to bounce back on their title ambition with wins in their second match of the campaign. Both Jhapa and Police had had faced identical 1-0 defeat during their first match against Tribhuvan Army Club and Rupandehai Football Club respectively.Police has been the powerhouse in domestic football over the past decade and is all time title favorite. The departmental side has won three out of last five top tier league from 2010 to 2011/12 editions and various other knockout tournaments.
Jhapa, formed this season after decision of ANFA to include district teams in the national league, have enjoyed perfect beginning winning the first major title of the season - ANFA Cup - held in the capital besides Birat Gold Cup (Biratnagar), Surunga Gold Cup and Pathari Gold Cup held outside the capital. Jhapa had overcome Police in Pathari Gold Cup to secure place in the final and beat the same team in tiebreaker en route to title.
Though both the teams have rated the opponent as a strong side, they however, are confident of achieving winning results and has set the ambitions of winning title. "Police is an experienced side with talented players," Jhapa's veteran coach Bhagirath Ale said who arrived in the capital. "However, we also have experienced squad and most of the players have already played in the A division leagues. Besides this, we also had pretty good training sessions over a couple of months."
"We have also defeated them twice in the current season. The players are also in good form and free from injury thus we will play for a win and," Ale said who arrived with the team in the capital on Wednesday. Ale has rated Manang Marshyangdi Club (MMC), Three Star, Tribhuvan Army and Police as tough opponent and he wants to go into other matches with high morale with a win on Friday. "A win over Police will also boost the confidence level of the team," he said.
Police coach Birat Krishna Shrestha also expressed satisfied with his side's preparations. The veteran has rated Jhapa as tough opponent, though he does not consider the district team as a title contender. "Jhapa is a strong side and they are also capable of pulling surprise result and upsetting big guns. But I don't think they are capable of winning the title," Shrestha said.
"Though I am optimistic of beating Jhapa, the match will be evenly contested. The outcome depends upon performance of team and player at the particular moment," He said adding that the departmental side's ambition was no less than the title.
Police regular defender Suman Subedi will be out of action due to hamstring injury and the coach is also worried about bench strength of his team. "We don't have position wise player and the bench strength is also not up to mark. However, the youngsters have shown good sign in the training."
Today's Match
Nepal Police Vs Jhapa XI FC
Time: 15:30 NST
Venue: Dasharath Stadium
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