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Johan Kalin was appointed as head coach in January and wants to take the minnows to the next level and the Swede sees the eight games against the Socceroos, Jordan, Kuwait and Taiwan as a great way to do just that.
Australia has been the focus of the headlines in Kathmandu but Kalin believes that his team can be competitive against the 2015 Asian champions.
“We are big underdogs against Australia,” Kalin told The World Game. “ Yet the Australian players have two arms and two legs and so do we so it is always possible to shock people but we need to be realistic and understand where we are.
“Australia have top level players and we are really looking forward to it as it will be really interesting to play against them. They have players in the Premier League, Germany and Celtic. It will be a great experience. We will look for the performance first and results second. If we can perform well, then we are making progress.”
“No matter which country we would have drawn, we know things would be tough but while we are underdogs. We recently played both Chinese Taipei and Kuwait. We can’t surprise them now but now we know a little more about them. So there’s good and bad."
In the two games with Kuwait in March, Nepal drew 0-0 and lost 1-0 against the frustrated Middle Easterners. Being hard to beat is part of the Nepali template.
“We are only focused on organisation and that is what we need to keep working on. The big thing is to develop this on-pitch organisation as we know we can’t give teams like Australia space to play. Hopefully we can improve our attacking game. Of course, they are favourites but we don’t need to be scared of them. We can compete.”
It is Kalin’s second spell in Nepal after taking Kathmandu club Machhindra F.C. to second place in the 2014 league season.
“We had a good season five years ago and I think that is the reason I was asked,” Kalin said. “It was an interesting challenge for me to be part of the new situation in Nepal.”
There has been a new leadership in the federation since 2018 and it aims to turn a new page after the tenure of Ganesh Thapa as president with the official banned by FIFA for 10 years in 2015 on charges of bribery.
“The FA are trying to build something new. There have been some tough years: the league stopped again last year for around three years and before that was closed for four years. That time really hurt Nepali football with players not able to play properly. I hope this can be a new start. We don’t have many pitches and we don’t have the infrastructure that they have in Australia. So things are tough in some ways but the players want to learn and they work hard.”
“I really hope these eight games help. Four years ago we lost in the first round and that was it. It is important especially as the league was closed for four years. if we don’t play then the kids growing up will choose other sports. Right now, football is number one and it is important to stay there.”
