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Nepal Football team captain Sagar Thapa issued a rallying cry ahead of the International friendly between India and Nepal in Pune. The 31-year-old claimed, beating India was not impossible for his team even though they have lost the last three games on the trot to the same opposition.
Speaking at the pre-match press conference at the Balewadi stadium, Thapa said, “It is not impossible to defeat India. we have had results in the past where we have defeated them, all we need is a good strategy.”
This is Nepal’s first international match since March when the whole Nation was impacted by a devastating earthquake that left over 9000 fatalities. Nepal will, however, participate in the SAFF Championships that will be held in India in December.
Thapa, who has 50 caps for the national team, said that the friendly would be a great warm up for the SAFF Championships. “The match against India is an important one in context to the build up to the SAFF Championships which we will participate in next,” the third highest capped player in Nepal said.
Nepal coach Dhurba KC told the media that the team was in a rebuilding phase right now and that they would be experimenting various tactics and formations that would hold them in good stead for the future as they had a lot of youngsters in their team as well. Nepal have included four players from their U-19 team that beat their Indian counterparts in the final 5-4 on penalties. Bimal, Bista and Tamang all started in the final of the SAFF Championships.
“We are in the process of rebuilding our team. There are ten new entrants, including four from our SAFF U-19 Championship team,” the coach said.
"We have trained for a month for this match. We are trying out different tactics and formations tomorrow," KC concluded.
When talking about the future o football in Nepal, Thapa told the media present at Balewadi that the there was a lot of talent in Nepal, but it just needs to be harnessed. The 31-year-said, “Nepal has huge potential when it come to footballing talent. We just need to harness it as football is loved by all in the Nation.”
Even though Nepal don’t have a great record against India in football, the game proves to be an enticing duel between two teams who have played out some exceptional matches in the past.
