Kathmandu Sep 21 (IANS) After an impressive three-nil victory against a strong Palestine in the first match of AFC U-16 Qualifiers India U-16 will be cautious in their approach when they take on hosts Nepal at the Halchowk Stadium here on Friday.
Coach Bibiano Fernandes said: "There s no room for complacency Nepal are a strong side and we know each other with both teams having played in the recently concluded U-15 SAFF Championship final. They will be backed by a partisan crowd and it will be a challenge for us."
"Everybody saw what we re capable of but we can t afford to be complacent " he reiterated. "We had an ideal start in the tournament but the target is far away. We aim to continue the winning momentum and prefer to take one match at a time " Fernandes added.
Bibiano also said that India will not start as the favourites even after getting the better of their rivals twice in the recently concluded SAFF U-15 Championship. "We won t have any advantage over Nepal. Although we beat them twice recently it won t have any effect on tomorrow s game and everyone should start afresh."
He voiced confidence his squad will be able to "create quite a few opportunities against Palestine".
"At times we were shaky the other day but at the end of the game we won the game convincingly. I have full faith in my squad who have created so many opportunities throughout the game " the coach said.
Meanwhile Nepalese coach Sunil Kumar Shrestha showed his utmost respect for the Indian side and said: "India have been going through a good phase right now and they were clearly the deserving champions in the SAFF U-15 Championship. We will try to play our natural football to spoil their party tomorrow."
Earlier Nepal went down fighting by a solitary goal to Iraq in their first match of the Group D.
--IANS
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