India face Nepal in men's soccer fil

By our Sports Reporter

GUWAHATI, Feb 14: India will take on Nepal in the men’s soccer fil of the 12th South Asian Games here tomorrow. The game will kick off at the Indira Gandhi Athletic stadium at 7-00 pm.

The bronze medal deciding match will also be held tomorrow at the same venue between Bangladesh and Malidves. The kick off time of the game is 2pm.

India is back in South Asian Games men’s soccer fil after 11 years. Last time they played in a title clash at Islamabad Games in 2004. On the other hand India last time won gold medal in the tourment in Cheni edition, 1995.

Till date India made a good run in the tourment. Although they lost the first game to Sri Lanka by a solitary goal but they bounced back nicely. The team earned semi fil ticket beating Nepal 3-2 and it was followed by 3-0 victory over Bangladesh in the semi fil.

Indian coach Lee Johnson is happy with the team performance. Talking to the media persons after the end of the fil practice session at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium today, he said, “My boys  have played good football throughout the tourment. We failed to click in the first game but thereafter my side bounced back nicely.”

Assam boy Holicharan rzary, who is one of the key striker of the team, is a doubtful starter for tomorrows match as he is not recovered fully from his injury that he received before this tourment.

Meanwhile Nepal upset ‘favourite’ Maldives in the second semi fil last night. The side scored two goals in the extra time and pushed Maldives out from the gold medal match. Lee felt, fil will be a very tough game. “ Fil will be a mental game and that team will win tomorrow who will hold the nerve till the end.”