IF NEPALI FOOTBALL NEEDS THE CHANGE WE SHOULD TAKE THE RISK AND GIVE CHANCE TO NEW BLOODS : COACH ABDULLAH ALMUTAIRI

21 May 2021 : Pragyan Baral

 After Nepal won the historic Tri-Nation series after37 years on home soil, played against Bangladesh and Kyrgyzstan, in March 2021 under the coaching of veteran national player and experienced coach Bal Gopal Maharjan, his tenure ended as a coach and new Kuwaiti coach  Abdullah Almutairi joined the national team.

Mr. Almutairi is an experienced coach who coached different Saudia and Kuwaiti teams as well as the u-16 team of Kyrgyzstan.

Recently, after the conclusion of the Khukuri Nepal Super League, the first private franchise league of Nepal, ANFA published the new player's squad for the upcoming friendly match against Iraq and World cup qualifiers. 

New Squad of National Football Team 

Kiran Kumar Limbu (GK/C), Deep Karki (GK), Bishal Sunar (GK), Ananta Tamang, Gautam Shrestha, Suman Aryal, Abhishek Rijal, Bishal Rai, Sunil Bal, Aashish Lama, Pujan Uparkoti, Arik Bista, Suman Lama, Anjan Bista, Manish Dangi, Santosh Tamang, Nawayug Shrestha, Ayush Ghalan, Suraj Jeu Thakuri, Kamal Thapa, Rohit Chand, Dinesh Rajbanshi and Bikash Khawas.

This new squad includes 13 new faces who were not included in Tri-nation Series. The coach has left out Bharat Khawas, Ranjit Dhimal, Amit Tamang, Sesehang Angdembe, Ravishankar Paswan, Nishan Khadka, Bibek Basnet, Nitin Thapa, and Darshan Gurung from the preliminary squad.

Coach Almuitari included midfielders Kamal Thapa, Suraj Jeu Thakuri, Gautam Shrestha, and Ayush Ghalan in the national team for the first time.

But this announcement from the new coach dragged him into controversy for not including the champion players, and emerging players from the preliminary squad, which lifted a title for the nation and no players from the maiden champions of franchise league Khukuri NSL, Kathmandu Rayzers FC. 

On this incident in recent Press Meet by Coach Almutairi 

He picked up every individual player's name and clarified why he is not picked up in the team. 

    He clarified about Ravi Paswan, Right Wing of Pokhara Thunders saying that Ravi is not taught how to play the cross in the game, he is only taught to take the ball and run away and he is not taught what to do after taking the ball. The coach said that he will be in the squad after he becomes able to play the crosses as a winger.

He spotted the light on why he didn't choose any players from Kathmandu Rayzers. He stated that he has no issues with the team, their coach, and the management.

GoalKeeper Bikesh Kuthu is very tired from the NSL tournament and due to that, he might make very silly mistakes. 

Tej Tamang has broken his fingers and the games coming forward are very very important for the team and why fill up the player quota for nothing.

And about  Sanjog Rai that he has some issues regarding his ligament. He requires more rest for some months otherwise he will miss football forever due to injury.

 Also, Coach said about some bad attitude and lack of match seriousness in the players so they couldn't make up in the squad.

He also informed the media that the new squad is fully making papers on analysis of opponents' game and their squad and doing deep research about opponents. This will surely help to study the opponent's strategy and perform well in the field.

Coach spoke about what every player (out of the squad or in the squad) should do for the nation and play for Nepal. Those who are out of the squad should grind hard to make a comeback and those who are in the squad should capitalize on the moment and progress.

The coach clarified that the national Football team of Nepal requires change. Youths should be given the chance and then only Nepali Football makes a change if we can take the risk. If the young blood is given a chance then only they can learn from success or failure whatever they get. They will have enough time to work on their mistakes. 

So lastly, the coach requested every supporter and media personnel not to demotivate new players by comparing them with the others in the squad and cheer up for every player in the nation and requested players to make the nation proud through their positive attitude and playing ability.