Nepal U-23 football coach Raju Kaji Shakya on Thursday said his team can put on a strong performance in the AFC U-23 Championship Qualifiers scheduled for July 15-19 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Nepal are drawn in Group ‘D’ with UAE, Uzbekistan and Lebanon in the qualifiers that sends 10 group winners and five best runners-up in the finals to be held in China next year. Nepal will open their campaign against the hosts UAE on July 19 before taking on Uzbekistan two days later. They round up their group fixtures with a game against Lebanon on July 23.

Shakya believes all the opponents in their group as “very strong”. “All the opponents are better than us, especially the defending champions Uzbekistan,” said Shakya.

Despite knowing their strength, Nepal coach is adamant to give tough fight in the qualifiers. “We will give our best and anything can happen in football,” said the optimistic Nepal coach.

Megh Raj KC was named the coach but declined the offer after his arrival from Japan. Shakya, who has been looking after the team in the absence of KC, took over the full coaching responsibilities since.

Prakash Aryal is the assistant coach and Mrigendra Mishra the goalkeeping mentor. All Nepal Football Association (Anfa) Deputy General Secretary Sanjiv Mishra is the team manager.

As part of their preparations, Nepal are hosting Bangladesh on July 11. The final squad will be announced before the Bangladesh friendly match. “We will leave for the UAE two days after the friendly and game would have been more fruitful if it was held a week earlier.

It would have allowed us to identify our weaknesses and correct them in time for the Qualifiers,” added Shakya. 

Key member of the senior team Bimal Gharti Magar is likely to wear the captain’s armband. The 19-year-old forward, who earned senior cap at the age of 14, stressed on the need of more friendly matches before any tournament.

“There are many inexperienced players in our squad and match exposure is crucial for them to excel,” said Gharti Magar, who had previously lead the U-16 and U-19 national teams.

The team is under closed camp training since June 16 with 28 players reporting out of 37 called for the preliminary squad.

The squad boasts 10 members from the senior team in goalkeeper Alan Neupane, defenders Kamal Shrestha, Ananta Tamang and Dinesh Rajbanshi, midfielders Heman Gurung, Hemanta Thapa Magar and Sunil Bal, and forwards Gharti Magar, Anjan Bista and Suman Lama.