KATHMANDU, Nov 17: The Martyr’s Memorial A-Division League is kicking off today after a break of over a month for Dashain and Tihar, and will see two matches taking place on the first day.
The league leader Signature Manang Marshyangdi Club will take on New Road Team (NRT), which will be followed by the departmental team Tribhuvan Army Club facing Valley Chyasal Youth Club on the same day. Both the matches will be played at Armed Police Force (APF) Club’s Halchowk Stadium in Halchowk.
Eight head coaches and an assistant coach of the participating teams spoke in a press meet organized at the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) Complex in Satdobato, Lalitpur on Friday, talking about their teams’ preparations.
NRT head coach Maheshwor Mulmi still seemed frustrated with the incident of the first day of the league when referee Sudish Pandey awarded Army an indirect free-kick in the last minute of the match. NRT had to settle for a 2-2 draw after that incident.
“The referee had made a mistake in our first game against Army. That was an awful error and was totally biased. Even ANFA did not do anything about that. We are not even informed about what decision they have taken,’’ Mulmi grunted.
“We are an underdog team. We have a good number of junior players and we will most likely field the same team. Manang is a strong opponent, but we will give a tough fight and try to get a win,’’ Mulmi said.
NDA starts second round with two wins
Army head coach Nabin Neupane expressed his dissatisfaction about the performance of his players against NRT and said that his team will be looking to improve in the next outing against Chyasal.
“Nothing happened as I expected. It was a poor performance against NRT. But, now we are ready for the match and will correct our mistakes,’’ Neupane said.
“Each and every team of the league is strong and balanced. They all are good enough to win the title. We will play well against Chyasal with our powerful attacking display,’’ Neupane further added.
The other departmental team Nepal Police Club head coach Ananta Thapa said that his team are well prepared for the match against Machhindra Club and will play as a title contender.
“Every game should be won, every point should be taken. We have a good team coordination and we are an attacking team, so we will play just like that. We have prepared well and we will play to win the match,’’ Thapa said.
Machhindra head coach Dhaneshwor Prajapati said that his team did not get enough time to train because it only started after Tihar. “We did not get much time to train as we started only after Tihar. We are now focused for the match and have trained well since then. We are working to build teamwork to play as a team,’’ Prajapati said.
Brigade Boys Youth Club head coach Ujjen Shrestha said, “We have a young team and they are good. We lost because of many mistakes against Manang, but we will rectify them in the second game against Three Star. I have prepared strategy to overcome them. We will try hard to win, but it will be difficult.’’
Ruslan Three Star Club assistant coach Ashok Rai said, “We are a big team and everyone knows that. We respect other teams and won’t underestimate anyone. We have prepared all year playing in mofussal tournaments. We will play to win.’’
CMG Sankata Club head coach Salyan Khadgi said, “We did not train between Dashain and Tihar. We haven’t prepared much, but we have got a good team coordination. We had few weakness against Saraswoti, but we will improve that now.’’
NIBL Friends Club head coach Ramesh Maharjan said, “We prepared well after Tihar. We have made tactics which can rectify our previous errors.’’
APF head coach Rajendra Tamang said, “We are preparing by looking at our last game. We have improved on the mistakes and now we will go for a win. There were no foreign players before in other clubs, but now they have it. It’ll be difficult for us to cope with foreign talent, but we will try to win.’’
In the first round, NRT and Army played a 2-2 draw in the first game, while Sankata defeated beat Saraswati Youth Club 1-0.
Likewise, Machhindra and Chyasal Youth Club played the first goalless draw of the competition, followed by a 2-1 win for Three Star over Friends.
Also, Police overcame Jawalakhel Youth Club 1-0, while Manang comfortably beat Brigade Boys 3-1. APF and Himalayan Sherpa Club played a 0-0 draw.
