A win for either team is likely to keep afloat the hope of making it through to the final stage. On the other hand, a defeat or a draw would slim their chances of progressing.[break]
Both the teams suffered early blows to their campaign in their respective opening matches on Monday. Nepal lost 2-0 to Syria and Oman lost 3-0 to Saudi Arabia.
When predicting the performance of the teams on the basis of senior men´s FIFA ranking, Oman is likely to dominate the home side. Oman is ranked 103 in FIFA ranking and Nepal 136.
Nepal will have the advantage of home ground and crowd. Similarly, the strong physique of Omani players will be extra advantage for them.
Nepali coach Sunil Shrestha is cautious that Nepal will crash out of the tournament if it fails to beat Oman. "It will be a do-or-die match and we will play with full force," Shrestha said. "In the last match there was problem in scoring and on Wednesday we will try to avert it," he said.
Like in previous match, Nepal will again come up with attacking strategy. When asked regarding the psychological effect of the defeat on youth team, Shrestha said, "The boys will come up with fresh mind to win the match forgetting the previous outcome."
However, Shrestha has rated Oman as a strong opponent and expects tough challenge from them. Nepal will also miss its striker Rungrihang Rai who substituted Lakhaju Anjan in the 70th minute against Syria.
Similarly, glovesman Birendra Chand and Sagar Lama have also sustained injuries but they are likely to play against Oman.
Not only the Nepali coach is under pressure but also his Omani counterpart Peter Van Der Host who come from Holland is under equal pressure. Omani team has also prepared for the tournament very well. Like Nepal which lost to India in semifinal of SAFF Championship, Oman had lost to champion Saudi Arabia in the semifinal of Golf Cup.
Omani coach Host had said that his team had landed in Nepal for qualification and will play for victory against all teams of the group.
In another match to be played at the APF ground, Halchowk, Saudi Arabia will take on Syria. Both the matches will kick off at 15:00 NST.
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