Nepali youth team on Tuesday completed their final preparation for the Saff U-15 Championship with a 3-1 loss to top tier football club Nepal Armed Police Force (APF) Club.

The 10-day biennial tournament beginning from Friday is a replacement of Saff U-16 Championship and features six south Asian teams. The event is also taken as a warm-up tournament for the AFC U-16 Championship Qualifiers. The 2018 AFC U-16 Championship Qualifiers is scheduled for September 16-24 at Anfa Complex and Halchowk Stadium.

Nepal will be hosting the Group ‘D’ games of Qualifiers consisting of Iran, India and Palestine. The 10 group winners and five best runner up will qualify for the finals to be held next year.

Coach Sunil Shrestha is taking charge of the youth team and the team is all set to go for the Saff Championship. Nepal is drawn in Group ‘B’ along with India and Maldives while Group ‘A’ consists of Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. The group winners and runners-up from the pools will qualify for semi-finals to be played simultaneously at Anfa Complex, Satdobato and Halchowk Stadium.

The Nepali youth team has been training at the Anfa Academy for the last two years and the addition of seven players following an open selection has strengthened the squad, believes coach Shrestha. “We had identified some of our weaknesses in certain positions during the SFT South Asia—Japan U-16 Football Exchange Programme in Sri Lanka in March has been amended after open selection,” Shrestha said.

Nepal finished third and runners-up in the 2011 and 2013 editions before bowing out of the semi-finals in last (2015) edition. Coach Shrestha, however, is setting eyes on winning the elusive title this time around. “Though we failed to win the crown on last three occasions, the outcome has always been close. Apart from the preparations for the Qualifiers, we have set the target of winning title,” said Shrestha who will finalise the 23-member squad from a pool of 33 players from the Academy.

According to Shrestha, the preparations so far has been sound. “The boys have been working really hard and a couple of them have picked minor injuries but they will recover before the tournament. I have expected good outcome after analysing the match. We were cautious not to pick injury against APF.”

Shrestha believed the outcome of the SAFF tournament will be a morale booster for his side before they compete in the AFC Qualifiers. “The tournament will not only be helpful to find our weaknesses but also lift the confidence level if we win it. We will leave no stone unturned to win the Championship,” said Shrestha who is assisted by former Nepali international Bikash Malla as goalkeeping coach.