Football: With just a day before Bhutan hosts its first AFC Cup Playoff Qualifiers at Changlimithang Stadium in Thimphu, all three participating teams are looking to top the group and qualify for the next round.

Pakistan’s K-Electric FC and Mongolia’s Khoromkhon FC arrived in the country yesterday.

K-Electric FC’s head coach Mohammad Zabe Khan said that their team is here to win the playoff and qualify into the next round. “We’ve trained to win and we’re here with one ambition and that is to win the qualifiers.”

K-Electric FC are the champions of the Pakistan Premier League.

This will be the team’s first international match and the coach is optimistic of winning against the home team, Druk United and Mongolia’s national league champions, Khoromkhon FC. “We want to win but at the same time we’re not taking any teams lightly,” said coach Khan.

The president of the club, Usama Quereshi said that they are expecting a good fight in the tournament especially from the home team. “The odds are always with the home team to win but we’re not deterred by it. We’re here to win and we’ll try and give our best.”

To cope up with the higher altitude and the artificial turf, the team started their practice as soon as they arrived in the capital. “We’re starting early to give the boys a hang of the pitch and the altitude,” said coach Khan.

Mongolia’s Khoromkhon FC’s head coach, S Purevsukn said that they have seen the other teams performance in some of the games and acknowledged their potential. However, the coach said that his team is not intimidated and will give their best to qualify into the next round.

“Altitude is not a problem for us because we’ve played games at higher altitude before. But this will be our first time playing on an artificial turf which might be a little tricky but we can cope up,” said S Purevsukn.

Meanwhile, the home team Druk United is all set for the big game against K-Electric FC tomorrow. The team is optimistic. Druk United’s manager, Tara Bir Rai in one of the interview said that all the players are in form and the team is one of the elite standing clubs in the country. “I’m confident with my club and we’re hopeful of winning this group and qualifying into the next round.”

Druk United will take on Pakistan’s K-Electric FC tomorrow at the Changlimithang Stadium at 6pm.

By Younten Tshedup