Nepal bid to earn first points when they take on Yemen in the second match of the AFC Asia Qualifiers at the APF grounds in Halchowk on Monday.

After starting their campaign with a 4-1 loss to hosts Philippines in Manila on March 28, Nepal are determined to open their account in Group ‘F’. Tajikistan are the other team in the group, which is being played over home and away basis. The 24-team Qualifiers, divided into six pools, offer 12 berths for the finals to be played in the UAE. The 12 teams will join defending champions Australia, China, Iraq, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Thailand, Uzbekistan and hosts UAE in the finals.

After Yemen, Nepal hosts Tajikistan on September 5. Nepal then travel to Tajikistan on October 10 away match before hosting Philippines on November 14. Nepal round up their qualifying campaign with a game away to Yemen. Yemen can host Nepal at a neutral venue due to political reasons.

Nepal are playing on their own backyard but coach Gyotoku Koji appears worried for his team’s performance. “We have been training at the astro turf (at Anfa grounds) for a month now and only had a couple of days experience playing in the natural grass,” said Koji after a session at the Dashrath Stadium.

“Yemen are a strong opponent like rest of the other teams in our group. But we will go for victory even if we may be satisfied with a draw,” said the Japanese national. The match will also see a low attendance of around 1,500 to 1,700 due to small capacity of Halchowk Stadium. Anfa has allocated just 700 tickets for public.

Nepal are ranked 169th in the Fifa rankings but Yemen are way up in the 124th. Unlike Nepal, Yemen made winning start to their campaign beating Tajikistan 2-1 at a neutral venue in Doha. “We have prepared well and hope to collect all three points,” Yemen skipper Mohammed Ebrahim Ayash said on Monday.

Like Nepal, Yemen have not organised league football since 2014 due to internal conflict with nine of their key players plying their trade in Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. “But we had a month-long training camp in Cairo, Egypt, and played a few friendly matches with the first division clubs there to prepare for this game,” Oman coach Abraham Mebratu said. But the coach was determined for his team’s success that can help give positive message to the conflict-hit nation.

The two teams have met twice in the past with Yemen winning on both the occasions: 3-0 during the 2000 Asian Cup Qualifying in Kuwait in 2000 and 2-0 during a friendly in 2014 in Doha. Nepal played a friendly against India on June 6 to prepare for this match, which they lost 2-0. Nepal will be without midfielder Bikram Lama, who was suspended during the Philippines clash. Rabin Shrestha has also been ruled out as the defender is recuperating after undergoing anterior cruciate ligament surgery last month.

Coach Koji named 23-member squad only on Monday including six new faces—goalkeeper Alan Neupane, defenders Dinesh Rajbanshi and Man Bahadur Tamang, midfielders Sunil Bal and Rajendra Rawal and forward Anil Gurung.