Amidst the painful history of the country reaching the SAFF Championship final and losing, the APF has the opportunity to win the title at home.
What you should know
Whenever we talk about the SAFF Women's Championship football, one fact comes to mind. It is that Nepal has never been able to win this tournament. However, Nepal has played in the finals almost continuously.
In this way, APF Club will have a rare and historic opportunity on Saturday, to win the first edition of the SAFF Women's Club Championship. If the team really accomplishes this task, it can forget all the pain of defeat in the SAFF Championship final to some extent.
However, this task will not be easy, because its opponent in the final to be held at the Dashrath Stadium is the Indian team East Bengal. This is a team that has proven itself to be superior in the league stage. In the competition consisting of a total of 5 teams, Indian champion East Bengal remained in first place with 10 points from 4 matches. APF was in second place with 8 points. Both teams are going to play the final by staying in the top two places.
The league stage match between the two ended in a goalless draw. This result will not have much meaning in the final. Because the mentality and thinking of each team is different in the title clash. East Bengal coach Anthony Samson has praised APF many times, calling it a very strong team. This is probably just his 'mind game'. Because he has said at the beginning, East Bengal is not just here to participate in Kathmandu, but to win the title.
Whatever everyone has experienced after the league stage matches, East Bengal has probably looked somewhat better than APF. The team's play is professional. And their Ugandan player Fazila Ekwueput is excellent. The only concern about APF is that they have not yet been able to find their natural rhythm, which is that the team is struggling for goals to a large extent. In this way, the main point before the final is that if APF is to beat East Bengal in the final, they will have to perform their best game ever.
At the press meet held on Friday on the eve of the final, the captains and coaches of both teams were enthusiastic. APF captain Anita Basnet said that her team is ready in every way for the final. She says, 'Right now we are playing to represent the country rather than the club. That is why we are all enthusiastic. We will try to win a medal in a situation where the country has not won anything so far. We are all waiting for that.'
Anita claimed that this tournament is of great importance and also gave a reason to motivate her players to play well. She said, 'All our sisters have got a chance, they should play well. Other clubs will also be looking at them, this is a golden opportunity.'
Coach Jeevesh Pandey also said that they will try their best to win the title. He said, 'There is no doubt that East Bengal is a good team. We have tried to improve on our main weakness to stop them.'
On the other hand, East Bengal coach Sasman says, 'We are expecting a lot of spectators in the final. The game will also be of a high standard. We are ready for both. What we know very well is why we came to Nepal. We will play well with what we have in our hands.’ Captain Ekwapute also says, ‘APF is a strong team, but we have full faith in our players.’
