The 52-year old Briton, who arrived in Butwal, Rupandehi on Wednesday to watch the performance of the footballers in the National League, said that 30 footballers will be picked in the initial stage of training for the national team. [break]
“We will pick 30 players in the first phase of training and will choose the final 23-member squad from among them,” the former England international said, adding, “None of the players has been selected for the Challenge Cup. It depends upon their performance during the training.”
Roberts indicated that a couple of players each from Jawalakhel Youth Club, New Road Team (NRT) and the Army Club could be included. “I have heard that Jawalakhel, Army and NRT have some talented youngsters in their squads.”
The coach, who flew to his homeland following Nepal´s exit from the semifinal of Delhi SAFF Championship a couple of months ago, arrived back in Nepal on Tuesday. When asked whether his arrival was not too late to adjudge the performance of players for national training camp, Roberts said, “I have three coaches working here, including my assistants Meghraj KC and Upendra Man Singh. Coach Bal Gopal Maharjan is also here. I will discuss with them and also watch video clips of the matches.”
“I have watched 100 matches of the Martyrs Memorial League held in Kathmandu some four months ago. And I know that players do not change very fast,” said Roberts. “I will talk with ANFA President Ganesh Thapa about the training and maybe we could start training from Wednesday.”
For the Challenge Cup, Roberts´ primary target is to cross the group stage. “We will try to qualify for the semifinals in the Challenge Cup and we will work very hard for that,” said Roberts.
“If we play the same level of football as we did at the SAFF Championship with improvements in forwards, we can cross the group stage,” said Roberts, adding that a high level, intensive training was a must for better results. He also clarified that the national squad won´t go anywhere else for training this time.
Regarding forwards he said, they must be confident of themselves. “I will try to make the forwards mentally prepared,” Roberts said.
Evaluation of SAFF Championship
Roberts lauded his team´s performance in the SAFF Championship. “We were better than any other side on the basis of performance,” Roberts said, adding, “We were the best in defence as well as striking line-up but the forwards could not play well.”
“Our forwards lack confidence. Had we got any forward like India´s Sunil Chhetri, we could have easily won the championship. Our forwards need to learn from them,” he added.
Roberts labeled national team forward Jumanu Rai as individualistic, Santosh Sahukhala a bit lazy--though hard working--and Anil Gurung blunt. “Gurung needs to be sharp,” opined Roberts.
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