Nepal kick off their fifth SAFF Women’s Championship campaign on home turf with a clash against Bhutan at the Shahid Stadium in Biratnagar on Tuesday.

The gulf between the two teams is evident by the fact that Nepal have never lost to any other opponents except for India while Bhutan are still searching for their first win in the biannual football tournament since its inception in 2010. Nepal have made it to the summit clash in three of the four editions of the tournament, finishing runners-up in 2010, 2012 and 2014 while crashing out of the semi-finals in 2016. Nepal had lost to four-time champions India in all four occasions. In contrast, Bhutan have never made it past the group stage so far.

The two teams have met twice in the group stage of the tournament in the past. On both the occasions—in 2014 and 2016—Nepal ran out with 8-0 wins against Bhutan. In-form striker Sabitra Bhandari had scored a record six goals against Bhutan in 2016. Bhandari will join forces with Niru Thapa in the attacking department.

Nepal head coach Hari Khadka was confident of his team’s win against Bhutan. “We will play good football and hopefully we will have little trouble against Bhutan,” said the former national team captain on Monday adding that his team takes great confidence going into the tournament due to the recent run of the international tournaments.

Nepal had finished runners-up in the Hero Gold Cup, an invitation tournament, held last month in India where his team beat India 2-1 in the group stage for the first time ever. Nepal however lost to Myanmar in the final. Khadka also led the team to the second round of the Asian Qualifier for 2020 Olympics in Myanmar in November last year. Nepal are drawn with Bhutan and Bangladesh in Group ‘A’, while Group ‘B’ consists of defending champions India, Sri Lanka and Maldives.

“Our primary target would be to finish top of the table before thinking of title,” said Khadka, who said he is not taking any pressure leading the team on home soil. “We have to devise a separate strategy against Bangladesh,” said Khadka who yet again predicted title clash between his team and India. Khadka said his team is hungry for a maiden international silverware and hopes to exploit the home advantage to the fullest. Nepal captain Niru Thapa was also hopeful of lifting the title. “We really had a sound preparations. Home advantage have added to our confidence but it also put pressure to deliver,” said Thapa.

Bhutan coach Sung Jae Leesaid said that they were focused on players’ development rather than results. “Most of the players are young as we are trying to build better team for future,” Lee said. Bhutan captain Sonma Choden said Nepal were a strong opponents. “We are prepared to take on the hosts and hopefully we will give them a tough fight,” said Choden.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh coach Golam Rabbani Choton expected a tough run in the tournament. “Every team in the region are serious about this tournament and I expect every matches to be competitive,” Choton said tagging India and Nepal as strong favourites for the title. Choton was confident of his team making it to the semi-finals.

For India, any thing less than lifting the title would be a a big disappointment given their record in the tournament. “We are here to lift fifth trophy in a row,” said India coach Maymol Rocky adding that the defeat (against Nepal) in Hero Gold Cup would not hamper their performance. India captain Ashalata Devi was pinning big hopes from the team which is a mix of U-19 and U-23 players. “We are motivated and will give our best to defend the title.”

Maldives coach Mohamed Athif and Sri Lanka coach Tilak Rohan Alponsu was also not thinking beyond the preliminary stages. Both the coaches are setting the initial target of making it to the last four. Top two teams from each pool qualify for the semi-finals.