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Nepal will be eyeing a victory to finish as Group B winners when they take on Pakistan in the last league match of the seventh South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship here at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium today
Nepal, who are just a point away from the semi-final berth, are at the top of the table with four points, two more than Pakistan and Maldives. Bangladesh are at the bottom with one point.
A draw against Pakistan would be enough for Nepal to make it to the last four. Nepal had played a 1-1 stalemate against Maldives on Friday before defeating Bangladesh 1-0 in their second match on Sunday. So far, defenders, Sandeep Rai and skipper Sagar Thapa have been on the scoresheet for Nepal. The strikers have failed get on the scoresheet as yet in the tournament.
Nepal coach Graham Roberts said they would go for a win against Pakistan and added that his side was capable to beat any team in the tournament. Nepal played with 5-3-2 formation against Maldives and Bangladesh.
Skipper Sagar Thapa said they were confident of beating Pakistan. “We are not going to underestimate Pakistan, but the performance against tough teams like Maldives and Bangladesh have boosted our morale and we are confident of victory,” said the skipper, who scored the winning goal in the dying moments against Bangladesh. The Nepali team trained at the Ambedkar Stadium for around one and half hour today.
Pakistan coach Zavisa Milosavljevic, on the other hand, argued they were looking for a win against Nepal and said that he his team would play a very attacking game against Nepal. Pakistan are yet to score in the tournament as they played goalless draws against Bangladesh and Maldives.
Nepal and Pakistan have played 10 international matches so far with the former having upper hand with five wins. Pakistan have recorded two victories, while other three matches ended in draws. The two nations are tied at 1-1 in the SAFF Championship matches. Pakistan defeated Nepal 2-0 in the first edition in 1997 in Kathmandu, while Nepal cruised to a 4-1 win in the fifth edition in 2008 in Maldives.
