KATHMANDU, March 7: U-17 prodigies Ananta Tamang, Dinesh Rajbanshi and Anjan Bista have been included in national team for the first time along with Bishal Rai, Heman Gurung and Ranjit Dhimal as national team head coach Jack Stefanowski unveiled the final squad for the away match of the joint FIFA World Cup 2018 and AFC Asian Cup 2019 qualification round on Friday.
The team consists of three goalkeepers, seven defenders, seven midfielders and six forwards for the away trip to India, scheduled for March 12.
The team is scheduled to leave for Kolkata before reaching Guwahati on Monday. The team will have a short training campaign in Kolkata.
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The second leg, a home match which will be probably played at the Dasharath Stadium Kathmandu, will be played on March 17.
Nepal had last played India in the friendly match at the Kanchenjunga Stadium in Siliguri, India where it had gone down 2-0. But the euphoria of defeating the Southern neighbor 2-1 during the SAFF Championship the same year still runs high in the Nepali squad.
Coach Stefanowski believes that Nepal can convincingly defeat India at home if everything goes as per the plan.
“Our players had a busy schedule lately participating in the numerous knockout tournaments outside Kathmandu and National League. So, their fitness level and training has been very rigorous. My team is at it top form,” said Stefanowski.
“We are looking forward for an engaging and evenly contested match. And we can take the match away from them by playing safe and attacking when we have opportunity. We are fully prepared for the match,” he added.
The squad was shortlisted from initial 30-member close camp team. Shiva Shrestha has been named as the reserve player for second leg if any players pick up an injury in the first leg.
Meanwhile, Santosh Sahukhala and Ritesh Thapa are making their return in the team as Shiva Shrestha, Nirajan Malla, Suraj BK, Karna Limbu, Aditya Chaudhary and Alan Neupane failed to find their place in the last selection.
Goalkeepers: Bikesh Kuthu, Kiran Chemjong, Ritesh Thapa
Defenders: Biraj Maharjan, Sagar Thapa, Sandip Rai, Rabin Shrestha, Ananta Tamang, Dinesh Rajbanshi, Rohit Chand
Midfielders: Heman Gurung, Ranjit Dhimal, Bikram Lama, Bhola Silwal, Bishal Rai, Raju Tamang, Jagajeet Shrestha
Forwards: Anil Gurung, Santosh Shahukhala, Anjan Bista, Bharat Khawas, Bimal Gharti Magar, Jumanu Rai
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