Soundbytes – AFC CCQ Grouq D

Jamal Mahmoud: “We are here to win the group”

Group D of the AFC Challenge Cup Qualifiers kicks off tomorrow. Palestine face Bangladesh at 08:15 GMT while Nepal play the Northern Mariana Islands. Here are some highlights of what the teams have had to say:

Nepal

We studied the opponents, we have some tough competition but we are more focused on how we perform; My boys have made me happy, we have worked really hard. We improved step by step after the Pakistan friendly defeat.

Nepal manager Jack Stefanowski in the pre-match conference

 Bangladesh

I have good, willing boys – let’s see in tomorrows match against Palestine. We are well prepared.
Bangladesh manager Lodewijk De Kruif in the pre-match conference.

All teams in the group have their qualities. Palestine is higher up in FIFA rankings and have prepared well with a match against India; Everything is possible in football, we saw how AC Milan beat Barcelona so anything can happen; We hope to qualify as #1, we have good offense players, a solid defense and some pretty good midifield players. We have been trying to instill the Dutch style of play into the team.
Bangladesh assistant coach Rene Koster in an interview with GoalNepal.com

 Northern Mariana Islands

My players are inexperienced, but we will try our best to get a good result.
NMI Coach Koo Luam Khen in the pre-match conference

Palestine

We are here to win the group; We are well prepared and confident of making it to the final round despite missing some important players.
Nepal are a good side but we defeated them 2-0 in our last match. Honestly we do not have much information on Bangladesh.
Palestine manager Jamal Mahmoud in the pre-match conference