In form Nepal U17 men's football team is facing rivalry India in the final of ongoing 7th SAFF U17 Championship 2022 on Wednesday, 14th September. The match to be played under flood light at Racecourse Ground, Colombo will kickoff at 8:15 PM NST. The broadcast of the match will be available on both television and YouTube via football Srilanka TV.
Nepal and India have faced each other three times only in the finals of the previous editions which used to be played with the concept of U-15 and U-16. All the three titles that India has lifted so far in the tournament history were all been achieved by defeating Nepal in the finals. This is the fourth time these two South Asian giants Nepal & India are sharing their stage in the final once again.
Nepal vs India head to head in the tournament history:
The last time these two teams met for the title in the finals of the last 2019 edition held in Kalyani where Nepal suffered a shameful defeat of 7-0 against the home team. Similarly, in the 2017 & 2013 SAFF age group finals both held in Nepal, Nepal was defeated by 2-1 & 1-0 respectively in the finals.
NEPAL'S STATS AGAINST INDIA
2013 SAFF U16 Championship Final Nepal 0-1 India, Dashrath Stadium
2015 SAFF U16 Championship Semi Final Nepal 0-1 India, Sylhet District Stadium
2017 SAFF U15 Championship Group Stage Nepal 1-2 India, ANFA Complex
2017 SAFF U15 Championship Final Nepal 1-2 India, ANFA Complex
2018 SAFF U15 Championship Third place Nepal 0-1 India, ANFA Complex
2019 SAFF U15 Championship Round Robin Nepal 0-5 India, Kalyani Stadium
2019 SAFF U15 Championship Final Nepal 0-7 India, Kalyani Stadium
2022 SAFF U17 Championship Group Stage Nepal 3-1 India, Race course Ground
Matches Played: 8 Won: 1 Loss: 7 Goal conceded: 20 Goal Scored: 5
Current Scenario & Match Analysis:
Here in 2022 the situation has changed. Regardless the past performance Nepal turned the table defeating the defending champions by 3-1 in the group stage match. Both Nepal & India were drawn in the same group B for the competition. After a hard-fought 2-1 win against Bhutan in the first match, Nepal started the campaign where they defeated the tournament's favorite & the defending champions by 3-1 with a style. Winning 2 out of 2 matches, Nepal being the group B topper, outplayed the semifinal against the host & the group A runner-up Srilanka by 6-0 to make place into the final.
Points table and individual standings
Meanwhile with a only win, group B runner-up India was lined up with the another tournament's favorite & the group A winners Bangladesh. With a struggling 2-1, defending champion India had their another final on the go against the uprising Nepal.
Despite coming from the open selection, the team work of the current Nepali U-17 team looks very good. Especially since the mid field is very strong, Nepal was giving India a lot of pain in the last meeting. Anyone in the current Nepali team is capable of scoring goals. Especially, we have seen long rangers from these young Nepalese players through any angle in the tournament. On the other hand, if we talk about India, their have a fast and furious counter attacks. Both the goals India made against Bangladesh in the semifinal were from counter moves. Thus while getting on the filed in the final encounter it's important for the Nepali defense to be alert when the teammates are on highline for attacking.
Both Nepal & India are aggressive football playing teams. Therefore, the final match between these two sides will be very competitive. The Nepali team wants to win the first title repeating their results in the group stage defeating India again, while the defending champion India wants to defend their title by making good use of this opportunity repaying the loss they suffered in the group stage.