Nepal will take on Mauritius on Tuesday, 1st of February on the second friendly of two friendly series in Kathmandu. The sides will take the field at 4:45 PM at the Dasharath Stadium.
Nepal were victorious in the first friendly courtesy of a solitary goal from Bimal Gharti Magar in the 55th minute of the match.
Mauritius are in Nepal as part of their preparation for the preliminary round of the AFCON 2023 qualifiers. Nepal will be looking to get set for the Asian Cup qualifiers that are fast approaching.
Rankings:
Nepal is currently ranked 169th in the latest FIFA rankings while Mauritius isn’t far off at 172nd place in the world.
Team news:
Mauritius arrived in Nepal one player short with Kevin Perticots testing positive before taking the flight to Nepal. Hans Patate and Walter St Martin, Pascal Colin and Andoll Madarbocchs; part of medical staff were out of the first friendly due to COVID. They are waiting for Monday's test results to come out to see if they will be available in the second friendly for coach Francois.
The rest of the squad will be in contention to start. With COVID restrictions affecting selections, Mauritius head coach Tony Francois has preferred to the players playing their professional football in Mauritius to choose from.
Nepal national team coach Abdullah Almutairi on the other hand opted to use two different squads for two friendlies to give chances to all 34 players who joined the training camp led by skipper Kiran Chemjong. The second staff will have different options for Almutairi. Abdullah Almutairi has made two changes to the squad he previously announced for the second friendly against Mauritius. Manish Dangi and Darshan Gurung have been brought in for Ananta Tamang and Prashant Awasthi.
Squads:
Nepal: Kiran Kumar Limbu (GK), Bishal Shrestha (GK), Satrughan Chaudhary (GK), Gautam Shrestha, Dinesh Rajbanshi, Devendra Tamang, Suman Aryal, Suraj Jeu Thakuri, Pujan Uperkoti, Suman Lama, Tej Tamang, Nabin Gurung, Sujal Shrestha, Subash Gurung, Anjan Bista, Aashish Lama, Bimal Gharti Magar, Manish Dangi, Aashish Rai, Arik Bista, Sushil Rai, Darshan Gurung, Santosh Tamang.
Mauritius: Kevin Jean-Louis, Loïc Michel, Walter St Martin, Rodney Castel, Vashist Calcutta, Stephane Gentil, Nathan Spéville, Nando Jackson, Damien Balisson, Kerlson Agathe, Fabrice Brasse, Adrien François, Adrien Botlar, Pascal Colin, Mervyn Jocelyn , Hans Patate, Stephan Nabab, Owen Foolchand, Nilesh Rasdarising, Linsley Brasse , Kengy Saramandif, Ashley Nazira, Andy Sophie
Recent results:
Nepal's latest win came against Mauritius last Saturday in Kathmandu. This was Nepal's fourth win in twelve games under Almutairi.
Meanwhile, Mauritius played their first international match since September 2019 where they lost 2-0 to Mozambique as part of the first round of CAF World Cup qualifiers.
Broadcasting and ticketing:
The match will be broadcasted live on Kantipur TV. The tickets for the match are available on the SajiloPay app.
With distinct philosophies and directions, physicality and tactical gameplay will be tested in this matchup.
