Nepali national football team is yet to announce the final squad for the Prime Minister Three Nations Cup men’s football tournament to begin from Wednesday.

The other two teams—Bhutan and Laos—have already landed in Nepal to compete for the tournament. The event is scheduled from March 22 to 31.

Nepal have already named Vincenzo Alberto Annese as their new coach on March 1. The Italian coach has been already inspecting the team and players of Nepal in the ongoing Martyrs Memorial ‘A’ Division League, which has gone into a two-week break, owing to the tournament.

All Nepal Football Association president Pankaj Bikram Nembang said that he was “still unaware” about why the football governing body was reluctant to name the squad. He further said it was “shameful that the technical team was yet to announce the squad for the tournament.”

He added, “I will ask the technical team including the manager why the Nepal squad was not published 48 hours prior to the tournament.”

Apart from that, ANFA had faced wide criticism for inviting Bhutan and Laos that are comparatively lower in rank and status for the friendly tournament.

Meanwhile, the football governing body on Monday said that all the preparations for the tournament were over. The winner of the tournament will get a purse of US $5000 and the runners up will get US $3000, ANFA spokesperson Suresh Shah said at a press conference. The best player of the tournament will get US $500, Shah announced.

However, some of the clubs have taken to social media to congratulate their players. Nepal Armed Police Force (APF) Club have congratulated their players Mani Kumar Lama, captain Nabin Lama and Sanish Shrestha for being named in the preliminary national squad.

Top tier sides Manang Marshyangdi Club and Jawalakhel Youth Club have also named and congratulated their players Randip Paudel, Sumit Shrestha, Deep Karki, Kamal Thapa and Aditya Chaudhary for being called in the national squad.