Nepal will face Bhutan in the first match of the AFC U-20 Asian Cup qualifiers today. The match will be played at the Ali Bin Mohammed Al Khalifa Stadium in Bahrain at 8:45 PM NST.

Nepal U-20 side recently participated in the SAFF U-20 Championship in India. Nepal couldn't make it to the final of the tournament after bagging just four points out of an available nine. Nepal defeated Sri Lanka 3-0 but suffered a humiliating 8-0 defeat against India in the next match. The final match of the group stages ended 1-1 against Bangladesh.

Coach Meghraj KC has made a few changes to the squad that went to India. Sonit Dahal, Aayush Shrestha, Roshan Thapa, Mohit Gurung and Dipesh Rai have been left out of the squad while Top Bahadur Rana, Jaan Tamli, Shyanshu Bhusal, Rakesh Bishwokarma and Sanjeev Lama have made it to the squad that flew to Bahrain.

Alongside Nepal and Bhutan, Qatar, Bahrain and Bangladesh make up group B of the qualifiers. Nepal will later take on Qatar on September 12. Nepal will play against Bahrain on September 14 and Bangladesh on September 18.

The team finishing at the top of the group will qualify for the AFC U-20 Asian Cup to be held in Uzbekistan next year.

Final squad: Aashish Rai, Abhishek Waiba, Ajay Chaudhary, Amar Shrestha, Dipesh Gurung, Ishwor Gurung, Ishwor Gurung, Jaan Tamli, Janmejay Dhami, Jiyarat Sheikh, Kritish Ratna Chhunju, Managya Nakarmi, Niranjan Malla, Raj Thokar, Rakesh Biwhwokarma, Rohan Khadgi, Sandeep Karki, Shrijan Dani, Sugam Suwal, Sumit Shrestha, Top Bahadur Rana, Sanjeev Lama, Ayush Ghalan (C), Shyansu Bhusal