SOURCE: REPUBLICA
KATHMANDU, June 29: Nepal´s national football team coach Graham Roberts on Tuesday said that his side was all ready for the first leg encounter against East Timor in the Asian Qualifiers of 2014 Brazil World Cup to be held on Wednesday. "We are ready to go and the players are 100 percent fit," said the pentagenarian Briton, who turns 52 on Sunday, during a pre-match conference.
"I am cent percent confidence of winning the match," he said.
"I am cent percent confidence of winning the match," he said.
If Nepal wins on Wednesday at the home ground, it will be a history as it has never won a single World Cup qualifying match at the home ground. The winner among them will qualify to play against Jordan on July 23 and 28 in the next round.
Nepal ranked 147 is in no mood to take East Timor ranked 200 lightly. "We will treat them in the same way as we did with North Korea and other teams during the AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers," Roberts said.
Nepal is likely to play attacking football with 3-5-2 (three defenders-five midfielders-two forwards) formation.
Nepali team skipper Sagar Thapa is also optimistic of winning both the matches. "The matches are vital for the team and we hope to win both legs."
Despite being the underdogs, East Timor too has set the winning target against home team. "We have watched some videos of the Nepali team and it´s a good side. But we have come with the confidence to win the home team," said East Timor´s Brazilian coach Antonio Carlos Viera.
The visiting side will be landing with high-level of confidence as his side, according to coach Viera, has won a friendly match recently against Bhutan.
"But we do not have standard format of league and football structures," the Brazilian said, adding that playing both home and away matches in Nepal will be a setback for the team.
"As there is no standard structure in football, scattered players were collected and selected from before forming the team," Viera said.
Similarly, Timor player Raul Dias Monteiro Isaac, who plays football in Australia, said that his side would try to get good results in both leg matches. Isaac considers training together for a couple of months as the strength of his team.
Nepal´s starting line up
Goalkeeper: Kiran Chemjong
Defenders: Sagar Thapa, Sandip Rai, Rohit Chand
Midfielders: Rabin Shrestha, Nirajan Khadka, Shiva Shrestha, Bharat Khawas, Biraj Maharjan
Forwards: Anil Gurung, Jumanu Rai.
Nepal ranked 147 is in no mood to take East Timor ranked 200 lightly. "We will treat them in the same way as we did with North Korea and other teams during the AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers," Roberts said.
Nepal is likely to play attacking football with 3-5-2 (three defenders-five midfielders-two forwards) formation.
Nepali team skipper Sagar Thapa is also optimistic of winning both the matches. "The matches are vital for the team and we hope to win both legs."
Despite being the underdogs, East Timor too has set the winning target against home team. "We have watched some videos of the Nepali team and it´s a good side. But we have come with the confidence to win the home team," said East Timor´s Brazilian coach Antonio Carlos Viera.
The visiting side will be landing with high-level of confidence as his side, according to coach Viera, has won a friendly match recently against Bhutan.
"But we do not have standard format of league and football structures," the Brazilian said, adding that playing both home and away matches in Nepal will be a setback for the team.
"As there is no standard structure in football, scattered players were collected and selected from before forming the team," Viera said.
Similarly, Timor player Raul Dias Monteiro Isaac, who plays football in Australia, said that his side would try to get good results in both leg matches. Isaac considers training together for a couple of months as the strength of his team.
Nepal´s starting line up
Goalkeeper: Kiran Chemjong
Defenders: Sagar Thapa, Sandip Rai, Rohit Chand
Midfielders: Rabin Shrestha, Nirajan Khadka, Shiva Shrestha, Bharat Khawas, Biraj Maharjan
Forwards: Anil Gurung, Jumanu Rai.
No comments:
Post a Comment