KATHMANDU, Aug 31: Like almost all participating teams of the eighth SAFF Championship aiming to lift the trophy, host Nepal and Bangladesh will lock horns in the curtain raiser of the championship at the Dasharath Stadium Saturday targeting for a winning start. ´We have very high expectations and hope the match will be competitive,´ Nepal"s coach Jack Stefanowski said during the pre-match conference Friday. He said matches of Group A consisting of Nepal, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan will be highly competitive. Stafenowski, the Polish-born American had earlier said Nepal aims to win the trophy. Stefanowski"s counterpart Lodewijk De Kruif of Bangladesh also held similar view about his team and said Bangladesh is here to win. ´Of course we are here to win, though we are not the title favorite.´ The Dutch tagged the five time champion and title holder India, Maldives and host Nepal to be the title favorite. Nepal and Bangladesh have encountered each other 15 times in the past and visiting team has better record. Nepal has won four matches, lost 10 and drawn one match. In the last three matches played between them, both the teams have won one each and drawn one. The last encounter between the two sides was in the group D qualifiers of AFC Challenge Cup on March 4. Bangladesh had defeated Nepal 2-0 on the occasion at the Dasharath Stadium. In 2012, the teams were tied at 1-1 in an international friendly in Kathmandu while in the last edition of tournament Nepal had defeated Bangladesh 1-0. Nepal conducted nearly three months training for the championship and went on a three-week tour of Gulf nations -- Kuwait and Bahrain -- as part of preparations. The team played five friendlies during the tour. ´We are in good form right now and the preparations abroad were fantastic,´ said Nepal"s coach who believes that home ground and home supporters will be extra advantage for his side rather than pressure. Stefanowski, who is likely to adopt a 4-4-1-1 formation, said that he was confident that the team will play with synergy. According to him, all the members except winger Jagjeet Shrestha are in good physical shape. ´Shrestha has minor injuries but he will be available for the match against Bangladesh.´ Shrestha who was suffering from heel pain has resumed training since Thursday. Nepal"s skipper Sagar Thapa said that his side was all ready to avenge the defeat suffered against visitor at home in March. ´A series of mistakes led to our Challenge Cup defeat against Bangladesh. But we will not repeat such mistakes this time and play at our best.´ The Bangladesh team that held two months long camp for the tournament is likely to come with a 4-3-3 formation. ´After two months of hard training, the team has improved. We are both curious and conflident about our performance,´ said Kruif who flattered about Nepal"s performance in the Challenge Cup. ´When I watched the match in DVD, the result could have been 4-2 in favor of Nepal but we were lucky to win that time,´ the Dutch said adding that the home crowd would not be a big problem in the team"s winning ambition as they had already defeated Nepal at the same venue a few months back. Bangladesh forward Sohel Rana echoed his coach. ´We are confident of beating the home team because we beat them in the Challenge Cup as well. We will focus on the match rather than the crowd.´ The Bangladesh team is plagued by knee injury of its captain cum midfielder Manual Islam and groin injury of forward Sohel Rana. ´The captain is undergoing treatment and it will be decided before the match whether he will play or not,´ Kruf said. Nepal"s probable starting list Goalkeeper: Kiran Chemjong Defenders: Rabin Shrestha, Sandeep Rai, Sagar Thapa, Biraj Maharjan Midfielders: Jagjeet Shrestha, Bhola Silwal, Rohit Chand, Raju Tamang Forwards: Anil Gurung, Bharat Khawas Bangladesh (W-4, L-10, D-1) Date Result Events 1984 Nepal 0-5 Bangladesh 1st SAF Games (group stage) 1984 Nepal 4-2 Bangladesh 1st SAF Games (Final) 1986 Nepal 0-1 Bangladesh 10th Asian Games 1987 Nepal 1-0 Bangladesh 3rd SAF Games 1991 Nepal 0-2 Bangladesh 5th SAF Games 1993 Nepal 1-0 Bangladesh 6th SAF Games 1995 Nepal 1-2 Bangladesh 7th SAF Games 1995 Nepal 0-2 Bangladesh 2nd SAARC Gold Cup 1999 Nepal 1-2 Bangladesh 2nd SAFF Championship 1999 Nepal 0-1 Bangladesh 8th SAG (final) 2003 Nepal 0-1 Bangladesh 3rd SAFF Championship 2005 Nepal 0-2 Bangladesh 4th SAFF Championship 2011 Nepal 1-0 Bangladesh 7th SAFF Championship 2012 Nepal 1-1 Bangladesh Friendly (Kathmandu) 2103 Nepal 0-2 Bangladesh AFC Challenge Cup Interesting facts about SAFF India has reached the final eight times and won the trophy on six occasions in the nine SAFF tournaments held so far. The first tournament held in 1993 was known as the SAARC Gold Cup, while it was renamed to South Asian Gold Cup in the second edition. The tournament"s name was changed to SAFF Championship in the third edition in 1997. Maldives has reached the final four times but won the title only once. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have won the trophy once each. Every time the tournament has been held in Dhaka, the title has been decided on penalties. Maldives" 9-1 win over Afghanistan in 2005 in Karachi is the biggest victory in the tournament. India holds the record for most goals scored by a team in a single edition. India scored a record 16 goals in 2011, beating its own previous record of 12 goals set in 1997. In the last edition held in 2011, a record 44 goals were scored in 15 matches creating the best strike rate of 2.93 goals per match. Baichung Bhutia of India is the top goalscorer in the tournament. He has scored a record 12 goals, followed by IM Vijayan of India with 10 goals to his name. India"s skipper Sunil Chhetri holds the record for most individual goals in a single edition. He scored seven goals during the last edition held in New Delhi, India. Seven players have scored hat-tricks in SAFF, while Bilal Arezou of Afghanistan scored four goals in a match in 2011. Coachspeak Shahzed Anwar, Pakistan (Pakistan): Pakistan has the capability to beat any team in the SAFF Championship. We had good preparations and have young players. We hope to get good results and qualify for the next round [semifinals]. We have five foreign-based players and their presence will be an advantage for the team. We have experienced players and two of them are playing in the second division league in Denmark. We don"t feel pressure to play against defending champion India and host Nepal. Technically and tactically Nepal is a good side and is in good shape. We played friendlies with Afghanistan and some Gulf teams to prepare for the event. Wim Koevermans, Holland (India): We are here to defend the title and are also under pressure to achieve that. For India, every match is final. We will try to win the group and knockout matches. We don"t underestimate any team and have rated every opponent as a strong side. We had only 20-day preparations for the tournament. I don"t feel the training period was insufficient. We got short preparation time during last year"s Nehru Cup in home but we won the cup. SC Roberto, Brazil (Sri Lanka): The preparation was very good. We are playing against the Maldives in the first match and that match is important to us. We played four matches in Thailand to prepare for the tournament. Yousef Kargar, Afghanistan (Afghanistan): As a war-torn country we did not have the privilege to prepare like other teams. Every team, not only us, are playing to win the championship. We have four-five foreign based players and they will feature in the starting list. Urbanyi Istava Bela, Hungary (Maldives): We held three-week preparation for the championship and 10-day training camp. This is the third SAFF Championship for me as coach. As always we have high expectations from the team. The team is good if not strong. It is a very competitive tournament and we will fight to achieve best results and take the trophy home. Kazunnori Ohara, Japan (Bhutan): We had only two weeks preparation as most of the players joined the King"s Cup in Thimpu. Everyone is saying that Bhutan is not a strong side but we want to give a surprise this time. We will get chance to play more freely as every opponent is taking Bhutan lightly. We want to reach to the next round. (As told in the pre-match conference on Friday. The names are followed by the nationality of coaches and country they represent are in parentheses).