KATHMANDU – India has announced its national team that will be playing two friendly matches against Nepal in Kathmandu. Nepal and India are scheduled to play two friendly matches on September 2 and 5 at Dasharath Stadium in Tripureshwor.
Head coach Igor Stimak announced the 25-member squad on Friday. The team includes Amarinder Singh, Dheeraj Singh, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Pritam Kotal, Chilesana Singh, Mandarrao Desai, Akash Mishra, Rahul Bheke, Shubhashish Bose, Ceritan Fernandez, Laleng Mabia, Vipin Singh, Anirudh Thapa, Sahal Abdul Samad, Brandon Fernandez, Liston Kolako, Yasir Mohammad, Glan Martins, Suresh Singh, Jackson Singh, Prony Haldar, Manveer Singh, Rahim Ali, Sunil Chhetri and Farooq Chaudhary.
Meanwhile, the Nepali national team is currently in Pokhara, Kaski for closed camp training led by national coach Abdullah Al Mutairi. The Nepali team comprises Kiran Kumar Limbu, Bishal Shrestha, Deep Karki, Bikesh Kuthu, Suman Aryal, Dinesh Rajwanshi, Gautam Shrestha, Anant Tamang, Rohit Chand, Suraj Jiu Thakuri, Suman Lama, Kamal Thapa Magar, Nitin Thapa, Tej Tamang, Rajan Gurung, Pujan are in the Nepali team. Uparkoti, Vishal Rai, Santosh Tamang, Sujal Shrestha, Sunil Bal, Manish Dangi, Anjan Bista, Ayush Ghalan, Nawayug Shrestha and Ashish Lama.
Nepal and India have played 19 matches played so far, of which India has won 13 matches with only two by Nepal. Four games have ended in a tie. India has scored 33 goals in the Nepali goalpost while Nepal has managed to score only nine goals against India.
According to the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA), after the friendly matches with India, the Nepali team will head for Doha, Qatar to prepare for the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship. The Nepali team is scheduled to leave for Doha on September 10. The 13th edition of the SAFF Championship is being held in the Maldives from 1 to 16 October.
