Nepal was defeated 1-0 by Afghanistan in extra time following a goalless draw in the regulation time during the seventh edition of the tournament. Nepal is eager to avenge the defeat while Afghanistan, an emerging football giant of the South Asian region, will also be eying victory.[break]
"We are ready for the Afghanistan clash and will play to win. It is also a good opportunity for us to avenge the defeat in the last edition," Nepal´s skipper Sagar Thapa said on Saturday echoing coach Jack Stefanowski.
Nepal has never reached the final in the past seven editions of the tournament, thus it will also be an opportunity for the home team to prove its mettle. "We also have an opportunity to create history," Thapa added.
Thapa described consistency of the team and its formation, stubborn defense line-up, results of the group stage and above all, the support of enthusiastic fans as strong reasons to hope for success. "We have a different team formation and playing style compared to the last edition. We won´t let the opponent play in our zone and the forwards have made tremendous improvements."
Thapa and his team, however, have not underestimated Afghanistan that finished runner-up in the last edition. "The Afghans are a strong side and they have been putting up a sound performance in recent years. We had underestimated the Afghans in the last edition. We will not repeat the same mistake."
"I had also wished to play against Afghanistan in the semifinals as they had defeated us last time."
Meanwhile, Nepal´s coach Stefanowski said his side has been heading in the right direction and has already proved that Nepal can beat giants like India. "We will try to be the number one team of South Asia," said Stefanowski. According to the Poland-born American, winger Bhola Silwal has injury to his leg and it will be decided on Sunday whether he will be in the starting line-up.
Unlike Thapa, Afghanistan coach Yousef Kargar had expressed his desire to avoid Nepal in the semifinals. "We wished to play against India rather than Nepal in the semifinals. But football is a game in which you can´t avoid an opponent. We wanted to play against India because Nepal has support of home crowd. Now we face Nepal and are okay with it," Kargar said after settling for a goalless draw against Maldives in their last group stage match. Afghanistan finished Group B runner-up on the basis of goal difference and fixed a semifinal clash with Nepal.
"Nepal is a technically strong side and plays a fast game. We will try to take care of their strong points," said Kargar, who claimed one of his key forwards, Belal Arezou, who has not scored even a single goal in the tournament, may score against Nepal.
Arezou had scored four goals in a single match in the last edition and had also struck the winner against Nepal. "Every player has ups and downs in his career. Besides, Arezou had injury and has scored recently. Hopefully, as in the last semifinal, Arezou will score the winner."
Currently Afghanistan sits on top of the FIFA rankings among SAFF members. The greatest strength of Afghanistan, ranked 139, are the five foreign-based players in the team. Despite the low ranking of 170, Nepal has a better head-to-head record against Afghanistan. In their five encounters, Nepal has won three matches and Afghanistan one, which came during the last SAFF, while one ended in a draw.
Nepal´s probable starting line-up
Goalkeeper: Kiran Chemjong
Defender: Rabin Shrestha, Sagar Thapa, Sandeep Rai, Biraj Maharjan
Midfielder: Bhola Silwal, Raju Tamang, Rohit Chand, Bharat Khawas
Forward: Jumanu Rai, Anil Gurung
Head-to-head records
Date Result Events
2003 Nepal 4-0 Afghanistan 13th Asian Cup
2008 Nepal 2-2 Afghanistan Mardeka Cup (Invitational)
2009 Nepal 3-0 Afghanistan 6th SAFF Championship
2011 Nepal 1-0 Afghanistan AFC Challenge Cup Qualifiers
2011 Nepal 0-0 Afghanistan 7th SAFF Championship, New Delhi
(Extra Time 0-1)
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