KATHMANDU, September 21, 2017: After an
impressive three-nil victory against a strong Palestine in the first match
of AFC U-16 Qualifiers, India U-16 stay cautious in their approach when they
take on hosts Nepal at the Halchowk Stadium on Friday (September 22,
2017).
“There's no room for complacency,” Coach
BibianoFernandes said. “Nepal are a strong side and we know each other with
both teams having played in the recently concluded U-15 SAFF Championship
final,” he added. “They will be backed by a partisan crowd and it will be a
challenge for us.”
"Everybody saw what we're capable of but we
can't afford to be complacent,” he reiterated. “We had an ideal start in the
tournament but the target is far away. We aim to continue the winning momentum
and prefer to take one match at a time,” he stated.
Bibiano also mentioned that India wouldn’t start as
the favourites even after getting the better of their rivals twice in the
recently concluded SAFF U-15 Championship. "We won't have any advantage
over Nepal. Although we beat them twice recently, it won't have any effect
on tomorrow's game and everyone should start afresh."
He vented his confidence on his squad and showed his
faith for “creating quite a few opportunities against Palestine.”
"At times we were shaky the other day but at
the end of the game, we won the game convincingly. I have full faith in my
squad who have created so many opportunities throughout the game."
Meanwhile, Nepalese coach Sunil Kumar Shrestha
showed his utmost respect for the Indian side. “India have been going through a
good phase right now and they were clearly the deserving champions in the SAFF
U-15 Championship,” Shrestha mentioned. "We will try to play our natural
football to spoil their party tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, Nepal went down fighting by a solitary
goal to Iraq in their first match of the Group D.
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