Kathmandu, 9 Nov 2009 - A list of 28 players was finalized on Monday out of the 48 football players called for the first phase training by All Nepal Football Association for selection for the SAFF Championship. Among them, 20 will be finalized after two weeks for the regional football tournament to be held in Bangladesh from December 5-15.
Monday´s selection includes four goalkeepers, nine defenders, nine midfielders and six forwards, said team coach Krishna Thapa.
Bikash Malla, Kiran Chemjong, Ritesh Thapa and Rupak Shreshta are the keepers. The defenders include Rakesh Shrestha, Sagar Thapa, Biraj Maharjan, Anjan KC, Chun Bahadur Thapa, Nur Raj Kafle, Robin Shrestha, Rohit Chand and Yogesh Shrestha.
Likewise, the midfielders are Sandeep Rai, Bishan Gauchan, Bijay Gurung, Nirajan Khadka, Ranjit Shrestha, Raju Tamang, Dipendra Shrestha, Bhola Silwal and Pradip Maharjan. Similarly, Jumanu Rai, Bikarna Shrestha, Santosh Sahukhala, Ganesh Lawati, Nirajan Malla and Chetan Ghimire are the forwards. Nepali striker Anil Gurung who is currently playing in the Indian league will also be included in the second phase after he returns home this week.
Nobody disputes the fact that Nepal's showing in international competitions is a depressingly familiar story.Result wise our football standards has plummeted to its lowest level in twenty years. Home fans have been left to watch in frustration their side lose match after match.After the under-16 debacle at the AFC qualifiers,the under-19 followed the same path.ANFA did not seemed rattled following under-16 setback,instead they needlessly hyped the under-19 and falsely assured home fans of a good result.They intentionally or not, undermined the opponents' versatility, technicality and fire power.At the end of the day, our boys unable to take the heat literally caved in. Clearly,the host were found wanting in every department of the game throughout the championship.Having said so, the talent pool we have is enormous,not an exaggeration by any means.The sad part, however, is that they have been let down by ANFA's failed governance.
ReplyDeleteWith the all important SAFF Championship knocking on the door the national team yet once again faces a litmus test.As for the preparation like always it's been very ordinary and well short.It has to be said here that the odds are heavily staked against the team.I just hope our boys who have always displayed grit,dogged determination and aggression come up trumps.