Azkals Vs Gorkhalis
As part of the preparation for the upcoming SAFF Championship to be held in New Delhi, India, in December 2011, Nepal is all set to begin the tour of ASEAN countries with its first clash against the national team of the Philippines Azkals at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in the capital city Manila on Tuesday (October 11, 2011).
The first tour match will be vital for both-the visiting team Nepal "Gorkhalis" and the home side.
The victory in the first match is sure to boost morale of the Nepali team which is set to play against three other countries namely Malaysia, Colombia and Thailand and some local clubs of those nations.
The match, at the same time, will be a prestige match for the host as it will be played at their home ground which is expected to pull huge crowd.
Similarly, the result will carry vital significance to the Philippines side which will play the final stage of AFC Challenge Cup at the Dasharath Stadium next year 2012.
The match is also expected to be a test for the ambitious Nepali national team "Gorkhalis" that started the tour of ASEAN countries to prepare itself for winning the SAFF Championship after 18 years.
Looking back at the history, Nepal has played against the Philippines only once during the Kings Cup in Thailand in 1982. Nepal had defeated the opponent 1-0.
Despite the fact that Nepal is placed above Philippines in both FIFA and AFC rankings, Nepali team´s British coach Graham Roberts is in no mood to take the match lightly and has dismissed the difference in the rankings between two teams is an advantage for Nepal.
Nepal ranks 135 and the Philippines 166 in FIFA rankings, while AFC rankings puts Nepal at 20 and the Philippines at 33.
"Ranking is not a great deal and low rank doesn´t mean that they are weak," Roberts had told Republica ahead of the team´s departure to Manila. "We will play against Philippines for victory and will try to improve our performance in every match we play."
"I have seen the Philippines side play. They are a very tough side. Some of their players play from European clubs and two of them are members of Premier League side Fulham. Our players are both physically and mentally fit and we will try to give our cent percent," Roberts had said, adding, "We have come here to play good football and we will not take any team lightly."
The Nepali team is in a good form following a tough two months training. Though the team´s confidence level is very high, Nepal does not have a good record of playing well abroad.
Nepal surely has a strong defense line up and the coach has termed his defense as world class. The midfield is also satisfactory but Nepal has always lagged behind in finishing and must come up with improved finishing for favorable result.
The Philippines coach Michael Weiss said during the pre-match press conference that he has a strong side and the team will be a mix-up of Europe based players and local players, according to goalnepal.com.
"We will take the match seriously as we are going Nepal next year for AFC Challenge Cup," Weiss said, adding, "We recently played against Singapore. We lost the match but boys played really well. I feel this is going to be a close tie."
Nepal will play its next match against Malaysian U-23 (Olympic team) in another friendly on October 15.
