Kathmandu : Nepal and India are facing each other in the final of the SAAF Championship today.
The final match will start at 8:45 pm at the National Football Stadium of Maldives. Nepal has entered the final of the tournament for the first time while India has won the tournament a maximum of seven times. But this time India had a very bad start to the tournament.
In the first match, India drew 1-1 with 10 man Bangladesh. In the second match, India drew 0-0 with Sri Lanka. India, who were in a danger of being eliminated from the tournament, them made it to the final by defeating Nepal and Maldives. Except in 2003, India has always reached the final of the competition. Captain Sunil Chhetri has scored the most 4 goals for India in the tournament. In the head to head record, Palla seems to be in India’s favor.
In 22 matches between the two teams, India has won 15 matches while Nepal has won only two matches. 5 games have ended in a draw. However, Nepal has scored 6 goals in this tournament while India has managed to score only 5 goals.
In today’s game, Anjan Bista, Suman Lama, Ayush Ghalan and Manish Dangi can be a headache for India. Nepal last defeated India 2-1 in 2013. Then in 1993, Nepal won the penalty shootout in Dhaka.
If Nepal wins today’s game, it will make a new history and it will be a happy farewell for head coach Abdullah Almutairi. Almutairi has said that the final will be his last game for Nepal. He had announced that he would not return to Nepal after the Bangladesh match.