Nepal was earlier slated to play against Lebanon in the opening match but after Lebanon pulled out of the tournament citing technical reasons, Nepal will now play against Syria in the opening match. [break]
Oman and Saudi Arabia are the other teams in the group. The winner and the runner-up of the group will make it to the final stage of the tournament to be held in 2012. Saudi Arabian team arrived in the capital about a week earlier while Syria and Oman teams landed on Saturday.
All the three teams that Nepal will play have better ranking than Nepal in FIFA senior men´s ranking. Syria is ranked 97, Saudi Arabia 87 and Oman 103 while Nepal is ranked at 136.
The matches of the qualifiers will be held at Dasharath Stadium and APF grounds, Halchowk. Nepal is scheduled to play all three matches at Dasharath Stadium. Nepal will take on Oman on Wednesday and Saudi Arabia on Friday. All the matches will start at 15:00 NST.
Preparations complete
The host - All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) - on Monday informed that all preparations for the tournament are complete. "We have finished preparations for the tournament," said ANFA general secretary Dhirendra Pradhan during a post-match conference.
Citing security reasons, ANFA has prohibited taking umbrella, water bottle, helmet, lighter and other materials inside the stadium during any match.
According to ANFA, the cost for hosting the tournament is expected to be Rs 7.8 million. Nepal will get $ 30,000 for hosting the group stage matches and each of the participating teams will provide $ 20,000 to ANFA. In return, Nepal will bear all costs for teams´ stay in Nepal including accommodation, food and transportation.
Ticket with a seat number
To make the seating arrangement systematic for spectators, ANFA has come up with a new plan for the VIP parapet. For the first time, spectators will have a seat number marked at the back of their ticket and they need to occupy the seat mentioned in their tickets. The ordinary parapet is only a seating stand, with no individual seats. So, tickets for the ordinary parapet will not carry any seat number.
Earlier, ANFA was criticized for mismanagement in seat arrangement. Many spectators who would pay high prices for a VIP ticket would complain of not getting any seat inside the stadium as a large number of seats are occupied by spectators who carry passes issued by ANFA. Seat numbering is expected to eradicate such problems and make seating more systematic.
The entry fee for the VIP parapet is Rs 500 and for the ordinary parapet it´s Rs 200.
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