At the Halchowk ground, Saudi Arabia will take on Oman. [break]
Among the four contestants in ground D -- Saudi Arabi, Syria and Oman -- the Gulf teams know each other very well and Nepal will be the only unknown opponent. Coaches of all four sides rated each their opponents as strong one during the pre-match conference on Sunday.
Coaches of both Nepal and Syria youth teams are taking the first match seriously. "The first match will be vital for Nepal," said Nepali coach Sunil Shrestha adding, "The victory in the first match will help boost the players´ morale as well as giving a psychological pressure to the opponents. We will come with a target and mindset to win. But I am expecting a tough match."
Syria coach Mohann Nad has also rated Nepal as a strong team in the group. He is in no mood to take the home team lightly. "First match is always difficult and we won´t take Nepal lightly."
Both, Nepal and Syria had ample training and international matches ahead of the qualifiers. Nepal competed in the SAFF U-16 Championship and finished third after losing to India during the shoot-out at home ground about a month earlier. Similarly, Syria finished runner-up in the final of Arabic Cup a couple of months earlier after being beaten by Saudi Arabia in the final.
Looking at the senior men´s FIFA rankings, Syria is placed 97 and Nepal 136. In the senior level, Syria no doubt plays better football than Nepal. But age group football is different and the host team leaving some exceptions have given tough challenge to strong sides.
Revealing his strategy, Nepal´s coach Shrestha said that his side would come up with an attacking style. "We will play both attacking and defensive games," Shrestha said.
"If the boys succeeded to play up to their full potential, we can win the match. Our aim is to qualify for the final stage whether we are a winner or a runner-up," Shrestha said adding, "Besides this, the boys are also highly confident of putting together a better performance. They are physically and mentally fit."
Earlier, Nepal was worried about injuries to its two key players -- defender Bivek Basnet and midfielder Umesh Thapa -- who featured in the starting line up in the SAFF Championship. But coach Shrestha finally got replacements of the duo; Pravin Taman will be fielded in place of Basnet and Drona Thapa in place of Umesh Thapa.
Nepali skipper Heman Gurung had similar opinions. "Syria is a tough team but we are not afraid of them and we will try our best to beat them."
Nepali team will be having home ground advantage while tall and well-built Syrian side will have physical advantage.
At the APF ground, Halchowk, Saudi Arabia will play against Oman. Both the matches will begin at 15:00 NST.
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