India had beaten Nepal on aggregates (a 2-0 win and a 0-0 draw) in the World Cup first round qulaifying match and the two sides are once again crossing swords against each other at the Balewadi Stadium here.
Nepal, ranked 184th in the FIFA charts, are playing their first senior international match after the devastating earthquake that hit the Himalayan nation recently. On the other hand, 156th-ranked Indians are using tomorrow's match as a tune-up for the big home match on September 8 against Iran, currently Asia's highest ranked side.
India coach Stephen Constantine predicted a tough game for his wards against Nepal, a team he had coached earlier.
"I would like to welcome Nepal to India to play their first international friendly post the tragedy of earthquakes. I have fond memories of the lovely Himalayan Kingdom and I share the pain of the people. Nepal will always remain close to my heart," he said at the pre-match press conference.
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"Nepal have always been a difficult team for India. They have shown in the last two games that they can fight. They will give us a difficult game and that's what we want. We want to be stretched to the wire. The general perception stays that they are not that strong as people sometimes love to go by the FIFA Rankings. But no one knows more about their spirit than me," he added.
"So there's a huge issue not only from fitness point of view of also lack of match fitness. We have already released Holicharan Narzary because of an appendix problem. The match against Nepal is an opportunity for us to play an international game in preparation for the Russia 2018 Qualifying match against Iran," he said.