SAFF Championship 2011: Second Semifinal Nepal Vs Afghanistan Pre match Preview

AFGHANISTAN Yousufzai; Faisal, Maqadar, Haroon, Djelaluddin; Israfeel, Mashriqi, Ata Yamir Ali, Waheed Ahmadi, Arezou

NEPAL Limbu; Biraj, Sagar, Rohit, Rabin; Bharat, Sandeep, Raju, Bijay Anil, Santosh

Afghanistan are the front-runners in the SAFF Championship having scored the most number of goals and also being the only team to reach double figures with 12 goals. Belal Arezou is their star striker having scored five.
Yousef Kargar's firing line is powered by the sheer overlapping pace of their skipper Haroon Fakruddin while Ata Yamir Ali and Sanjar Ahmadi have also made their contribution in the attacking third.

NEPAL'S CAPTAIN SAGAR THAPA

The Lions will be boosted with their performance in the last match in the group in which they thrashed Bhutan 8-1. But they will be aware to the kind of threat that their semi-finals opponents can provide on Friday. Winning against Bhutan with huge margin  is not sufficient to give challenge to Nepal as Nepal are well formed and have good ball possesion.
Nepal have looked like favourites but have however failed to capitalise on more than a handful onumber of chances in front of goal - all their attacking prowess earning them only three goals from as many matches.
The Gorkhalis will be hoping for lack of complacency, especially from Anil Gurung who has failed to deliver for his team, as they enter the semi-finals with a team who are equally dangerous while playing on the counter.However anyplayer from nepal  can come out as game winner as the goal scored by nepal is scored by midfielder and defence. Nepal have upper hand in the match as they has defeated the same line up before this year in AFC challenge cup qualifier :
Graham Roberts will be hoping for Rabin Shrestha to be ready for action after being hospitalized following a clash of heads with a Pakistan player.


Facts About two Opponents: 

• Afghanistan have reached the semi-finals of the SAFF Championship for the first time since the tournament's inception in 1993.

• Yousef Kargar coached side's 8-1 win over Bhutan is only second to Maldives who had beaten Afghanistan 9-1 in the 2005 edition of the competition.

• Afghanistan midfielder Mustafa Madar lost four members of his family in the blast that rocked the city of Kabul on Tuesday.

• The best finish ever managed by Nepal is that of third position in 1993 when the tournament was called the South Asian Association of Regional Co-operation Gold Cup.

• No third place match has been played since 2005.

Last Five performance of two opponents:

Field Report

 Afghanistan

 Nepal

Head to Head

AFC Challenge Cup 2012 ‎(ACC)‎	07-Apr-2011	Afghanistan 0 - Nepal 1
SAFF Championship ‎(SAFF)‎	09-Dec-2009	Afghanistan 0 - Nepal 3

Last Five Matches

Afghanistan
07-Dec-2011	Bhutan 1 - Afghanistan 8	SAFF
05-Dec-2011	Afghanistan 3 - Sri Lanka 1	SAFF
03-Dec-2011	India 1 - Afghanistan 1	SAFF
11-Apr-2011	Korea DPR (PRK) 2 - Afghanistan 0	ACC
09-Apr-2011	Sri Lanka 0 - Afghanistan 1	ACC

Nepal
06-Dec-2011	Pakistan 1 - Nepal 1	SAFF
04-Dec-2011	Nepal 1 - Bangladesh 0	SAFF
02-Dec-2011	Maldives 1 - Nepal 1	SAFF
11-Oct-2011	Philippines 4 - Nepal 0	FR
28-Jul-2011	Nepal 1 - Jordan 1	WCQA