"Gurung is an exceptional player and doing very good in training," Roberts told Republica. He said it was a tough job for him to finalize the last 20 from 24 players undergoing closed camp training for the biggest regional football tournament to be held from December 2-11 in New Delhi, India.[break]
Jeetendra Karki of New Road Team (NRT) and Ramesh Katuwal of Nepal Police Club are among the four players who will be left out of the squad, according to a highly-placed source at All Nepal Football Association (ANFA).
Ganesh Lawati of Armed Police Force (APF) has not been included in the closed camp training. Also a member of the national squad, Lawati has missed training for a month and will be excluded from the final list due to his personal problem.
The last time Gurung played for the national team was during the 2009 SAFF Championship. On the occasion, Gurung had scored a goal in Nepal´s 3-0 victory over Afghanistan. Gurung has so far scored three goals for the national team.
Gurung sustained knee injuries during the last edition of Martyrs Memorial League while playing for Three Star Club. The injury forced Gurung out of the national squad and he was sidelined for six months. Gurung missed two friendlies against Bhutan, the World Cup Qualifiers, the preliminary round matches of AFC Challenge Cup and the ASEAN tour.
But Gurung was called for the closed camp training of the national team about a month ago and has impressed the British coach and is almost certain to secure a place in the last 20 to be finalized on Friday. Along with Gurung, Nirajan Malla, Raju Tamang and Jeetendra Karki were also called up for the training.
"The last 20 will be finalized on Friday after a friendly match against NRT," coach Roberts told Republica, adding, "Some of the key players of the squad including Nirajan Khadka and others have recovered from injury few days ago, thus the final selection will be made only after adjudging their performance against NRT."
Goalkeepers Kiran Chemjong, Ritesh Thapa and Bikash Malla are sure to get place in the squad. Similarly, skipper Sagar Thapa, Sandip Rai, Rohit Chand, Biraj Maharjan and Rabin Shrestha have secured their places in the defense line-up. Bijay Gurung, Raju Tamang, Nirajan Mallla, Jagjeet Shrestha, Bhola Silwal and Sujal Shrestha are likely to be included in the midfield. Anil Gurung, Santosh Sahukhala, Jumanu Rai and Bharat Khawas will be named in forward.
Only two players from among Anil Ojha, Deepak Bhusal, Bikash Singh Chhetri and Nirajan Khadka are likely to be included in the squad.
Nepal is pitted in Group B along with the Maldives, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Nepal will start its campaign against the Maldives on the opening day. Group A consists of host India, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Bhutan.
Regarding the tournament, Roberts said that the first match to be played against the Maldives was of utmost importance. "The first match is the most vital for us and we must beat Maldives," Roberts said, adding, "Victory in the first match will boost the confidence of the team as well as exert pressure on the other teams. I am confident of winning the first match so that we can advance into the next round as the group winner."
The coach has made up his mind to include fully fit players in the final squad. "As the team needs to play five matches in nine days, I won´t take risk by including unfit players for the tournament."
Roberts still stresses the need for improvement in shooting. "Players´ mental and physical attitude is satisfactory but we need improvement in shooting. If we play with team spirit, nobody can stop us from winning the championship," Roberts said.
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