After Lebanon pulled out of the international friendly against India due to visa problems, Nepal would take its place and play against the men in blue on the 6th of June.
The match between India and Lebanon were supposed to be held at Andheri Sports Complex in Mumbai on June 7, but the west-asian country informed the All Indian Football Federation (AIFF) that it’s players, who are foreign based wouldn’t be able to make it to the capital city of Beirut to apply for the visas.
In fact, what led more to the cancellation of the friendly game is that the Lebanese citizens cannot get visas on arrival in India, according to the rules and regulations of the Government of India.
Nepal thus agreed to play against India as a replacement for Lebanon and the match, would be held at the same place but at a different date- June 6.
This was confirmed in a statement by the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) on their official website, where the body stated that it had agreed to play India after a proposal made by the AIFF.
“The Nepal National men’s team will be playing an international friendly against India national team in Mumbai on June 6.” read the statement.
It further added, “The All India Football Federation approached the ANFA for the friendly. The friendly will be benefiting both the teams as they are preparing for the second matches of the AFC Asian Cup 2019 qualifiers.”
Preparation for the Asian Cup Qualifiers
Nepal would go up against Yemen in a home match on the 13th of June in the AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers. India would also play Krgyz Republic in Bengaluru on that very day and the match against Nepal would be used by the Indian team as a build up ahead of the crucial encounter.
The last time these two sides squared off against each other was in the South Asian Football Federation Championship match in December 2015, where India had outplayed Nepal by a 4-1 margin.
-Kolkata Bureau (With inputs from PTI)