Nepal take on strong Vietnam today

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Apr. 5: Nepal's Coach Anant Raj Thapa expected a positive result against Vietnam in the first round of Women's Olympics Football Asian Qualifiers.

The 100th-ranked Nepal will be playing 33rd-ranked Vietnam in the first of two matches against Vietnam at Dasharath Stadium on Wednesday. The second match will be played on April 8. 

After Afghanistan, Palestine withdrew their names; Nepal and Vietnam remain in Group C.  

Addressing the pre-match conference held at ANFA Complex, Lalitpur, Coach Thapa said that Nepal will look to take home advantage to excel against one of the strongest sides of Asia. 

"We are encountering the strongest team in Asia. Vietnam has experience with the FIFA World Cup. The South East Asian nation is also high in FIFA World Ranking compared to us. Nepal, however, has talented players and we are preparing for the match for one month. 

We look forward to playing for a positive result.”

Team Vietnam has already qualified for FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 to be held in New Zealand and Australia. 

"We have plans against Vietnam. We are also monitoring our opponents and their key players as part of preparations,” Thapa said.

He added that injuries to key players Gita Rana and Preeti Rai should not be a worry for Nepal. "It is sad to lose such key players to the team but we have a good resource to pick players from and hopefully it won't be an issue," he said.

Nepal's captain and goalie Anjila Tumbapo Subba said Nepal will play for a win against Vietnam. “We are facing one of the powerhouses of Asia for the first time. They are ranked higher than us. It does not matter to us. We will enter the field to win and fight till the final whistle.”

On the other side, Vietnam’s Coach Mai Duc Chung said the Nepali team has an impressive squad and expected a tough battle against the home team.

"We are facing Nepal for the first time. The home team has an impressive squad. We hope to put up a good show because we came here to compete and not just to play the matches," Coach Chung said.

Captain Huynh Nhu said that it was a bit odd to play twice against the same nation in the qualifiers. 

"We respect our opponent team and we are here to win both matches. We have watched their match against India and they are a good side to play against," Captain Nhu said.