Fight for regional supremacy

India players do the hard yards during practice on Wednesday, ahead of today's final of the SAFF Women's Football Championship against Nepal in Cox's Bazar.Photo: STAR

Favourites India and title contenders Nepal will fight for South Asian supremacy when they meet in the final of the SAFF Women's Football Championship at the Cox's Bazaar Stadium today.
In what would be a rematch of the SA Games final, India are slated to be the favourites even though Nepal will surely give them a run for their money. The SA Games final was won 3-1 by India, but even in that game they were trailing 1-0 till the 60th minute.
Nepal captain Jamuna Gurung referred to that game yesterday as her team were having a rest day, in order to recover from weariness of the semifinal of the previous day.
“It's true that India are a stronger side than us, but we will give our full effort in the final. Anything can happen in football, remember we were leading them till 60 minutes in the final of SA Games,” recollected Jamuna who has been in top form scoring 10 goals. Her strike partner Anu Lama has got one more and the team's tally has been raised to 34 in 4 matches.
India have exceeded Nepal in that respect, scoring a staggering 39 goals with Sasmita Mallik leading the scorers list on 13 goals followed by Bala Devi with 11. And given the fact that India have either rested or substituted few of their key players in most of the matches, one wonders what their attack would be like if they unleash their full strength.
At the other end of the field, both defences were hardly ever seriously threatened and the two goallines remained un-breached.
But India coach Shahid Jabbar expects a stiff opposition this time, even though he is confident about winning.
“We are expecting a tough match in the final. But our aim was to take the title, and we are confident we can achieve that,” said Jabbar as he watched his charges toil under the morning sun at the BDR Ground.
If the teams can put in their natural performance today, the final should be an intriguing battle, and that is what the crowd will be expecting since their favourite team, the hosts could not make it through.