Nepal lose out to Syria in opening match of AFC U16 Championship qualifiers

Kathmandu, 12 Sept 2011


The young Nepalese boys took the field against Syrian team but lost the match 2-0. Nepal entered the match with confidence as home supporters were behind them. But unfortunately Nepal went down early in the 2nd minute of the match. Ahmad Ashqar scored for Syria amid misunderstanding between Nepalese goalie and defenders. Jinat Abdullah's corner was poorly clear by Chaudhary and Ahmad grabbed the chance with both hands. Nepalese boys came closer scoring a goal but Suman Lama's effort went just wide of the post. Heman Gurung followed it with a vicious shot in 27th minute but failed to trouble Syrian goalie. The match stayed 1-0 till half-time.


Nepal never managed to create any goal threat so the Nepalese coach decided for an early substitution in 53rd minute of the match. Rishi Thapa Magar and Anil Gurung entered to field for Suraj Hamal and Dona Thapa respectively. In the meanwhile Syrian team also fielded a new striker Abdul Hammoud in place of  Tarek in 56th minute. Sanjay Rajbahak failed to capitalize from freekick in 64th minute as his effort was easily saved by Syrian goalie. Nepalese boys played well but could not capitalize in the final third of the pitch. Syrian team got a chance to double its lead in 75th minute but Abdul Hammoud's effort went just wide. Finally in 82nd minute of the match Syrian team doubled their lead courtesy of a goal from substitute Abdul Hammoud. Nepalese team never really managed to create any more goal scoring threat despite having some efforts on goal. The match finally ended in favour of Syrian boys.


Nepalese coach Sunil Shrestha lamented the early goal and admitted the boys played under pressure then on. Syria coach Muhammad Al Fakeer admitted they were afraid of Nepalese team before the match but their first half display was enough for him to make winning strategy for his team. Nepal will now play Oman in the next match on Wednesday.


In another match, Saudi Arabia trounced Oman 3-0. Sumayhan Bhaidan, Abdul Karim Ali and Hasan Sarif all scored for Saudi team. 

Nepal national team U16 ready for AFC Qualifiers today

Nepal U=16 begins its AFC U-16 Journey today against Syria. The 23 player squad is as follows. It is the same players who notched third place in the U-16 SAFF Championships. This time there are no tie breakers but Nepal will face all Middle east opponents.
 

S.No.	Name	Position
1.	RUNGRI HANG RAI	MF
2.	SURAJ KUMAR RAI	MF
3.	KRISHNA RAJ LAMA	FW
4.	HEMAN GURUNG (C)	MF
5.	FIRON MAGRATI	MF
6.	ADITYA CHAUDHARY	DF
7.	SANJAY RAJBAHAK	DF
8.	BRIJESH KUMAR SINGH	GK
9.	PRAMAL THAPA	MF
10.	NABIN GURUNG	DF
11.	ANIL GURUNG	FW
12.	ANJAN LAKHAJU	DF
13.	BIRENDRA BAHADUR CHAND	GK
14.	SIKHAR MANI KAFLE	MF
15.	RISHI PITHAKOTI THAPA MAGAR	FW
16.	SURAJ HAMAL	FW
17.	BISHWS SHRESTHA	DF
18.	SAGAR LAMA	DF
19.	SANNI LAMA	MF
20.	SUMAN LAMA	FW
21.	DONA THAPA	MF
22.	PRABIN TAMANG MOKTAN	DF
23.	ALAN NEUPANE	GK

OFICIALS

1.   RAJENDRA NEUPANE       - TEAM MANAGER

2.   GRAHM PAUL ROBERTS   - COACH

3.   SUNIL KUMAR SHRESTHA- COACH

4.   MRIGENDRA PD MISHRA  - GK COACH

5.   BINAMRA BISTA             -  TEAM DOCTOR

6.   SHANKAR KATTEL           -  PHYSIOTHERAPIST

7.   GANESH BD CHAND        - OFFICIAL

8.   SANJEEV SILPAKAR         - TEAM MEDIA OFFICER

9.   ACHYUT RAJ GHIMIER     - OFFICIAL

Satdobato Youth Club crowned 'C' Division League Champion

Kathmandu: 7 September, 2011: Satdobato Youth Club clinched the title of Martyrs Memorial C Division League on Wednesday as it defeated Shree Kumari Club 2-0 in the last league match played at the ANFA Complex, Satdobato. Satdobato and Shree Kumari had already confirmed their promotion to the B Division.

Satdobato stunned Shree Kumari in the second half of the match as it produced two goals within two minutes. Dhiraj Tamang scored the first goal in the 53rd minute and Sabin KC doubled the tally in the 54th minute. 

Satdobato received Rs 100,000 and the trophy while Shree Kumari bagged Rs 50,000.

Khumaltar Youth Club finished third in the league as it thrashed Samaj Kalyan Khelkud Kendra 4-0 on Wednesday. Suraj Raut scored two goals for the winner while Suraj Thapa and Santosh Shrestha added a goal each. Both the team received Rs 25,000 each.

Khumaltar and Samaj Kalyan qualified for the C Division National League after making into the super league round of the tournament. All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) had divided 12 teams of the C Division into two groups and top two teams from each group had secured super league berth, where the four teams vied for the title.

Dheeraj Sunar of Khumaltar was adjudged the best goalkeeper of the league while Biren Tharu of Shree Kumari received award for the best defender. 

Rakesh Lama of Samaj Kalyan got the best midfielder award as Sabin KC of the champion Satdobato was awarded the best forward. Rajendra Karki, who took the coaching job of the champion Satdobato, received the best coach award. All the winners received Rs 5,000 each.

37 Players will vie for a place in U-19 National team squad for U-19 AFC Qualifiers

The second round of the U-19 National team players selection process approaches second round. The following 37 players have been enlisted out of 56 players for the AFC U-19 Championship 2012 Qualifiers Group A in Dhaka. These players have been selected on the merits from ‘A’ Division league performance and open selection held between Bhadra 18^th to 20^th.

Prospective goalkeepers

Bikesh Kuthu

Amrit Kumar Chaudhary

Shamsher Khatri

Ashok Baral

Chandra Tamang

Prospective Defenders

Ram Sharan Magar

Kalu Thapa

Suraj Thing

Dipesh Jha

Ajit Bhandari

Sanjog Rai

Shivaram Giri

Man Bahadur Tamang

Ganesh Thapa Magar

Kumar Lama

Kushal Shrestha

Suman Shrestha

Rohit Chand

Prospective Midfielders

Ganesh Khadka

Bishal Rai

Rupesh K.C.

Jagjeet Shrestha

Sameer Limbu

Dinesh Karki

Santosh Tamang

Saral Lama

Sushil K.C.

Santosh Thapa

Sulabh Maskey

Bishwa Adhikari

Prakash Budhathoki

Prospective Forwards

Sujal Shrestha

Asim Jung Karki

Amar Dangol

Ram Thapa

Pukar Ale Magar

Bikram Adhikari

Coach

Kishor K.C.

Mrigendra Mishra

Analysis: Is there any development in Nepalese football????

This is an era of Nepalese football where there are abundance of tournaments for players, various prize for the performing players and various media covering from paper to radio, television, mobile and websites. In recent time, it has been seen that players have been awarded with huge sum of money, motorbike, car and even with an apartment. Similarly the prize money for the tournaments have also increased significantly upto 2 million rupees.

People may say the Nepalese football have been developed referring to these observations. Let me give you one different example. In United States, the GDP was increasing and majority of the observers suggested that the economy of the country was blooming. Later the scrutiny showed the health sector was the major industry of contribution. Ironically this economy measures revenue from sick and dying people. Similarly in Nepalese football, most of us have only seen the figures of money in the game. All the players have been suffering owing to the poor organisation and management.  

The governing body is unable to provide not even a single better playing pitch. Either the pitch has irregular surfaces, huge bushes or muddy monsoon pitches. The playing conditions are so worse that the players cannot improve their game and had to rely the results on such pitch conditions. No pitch are perfect and may not be perfected with limited resources but the consequences can be mitigated. It is arguable that Martyr's Memorial B Division and C Division League has been played in the showers. According to the FIFA rules, the match cannot take place if the football does not bounce off the ground. In Nepal, the ball goes into the ground and still we commence the games. This in no case can improve Nepalese football. Preparation was also seen irresponsible. The first match of B division league was delayed because the organisers failed to prepare the ground on time. The grasses were not trimmed and there were no outline of the pitch. This was very disappointing. Similarly, since the matches were scheduled in rainy season and neither we have a proper ground to sustain rainy games nor we were prepared. The one game followed by the next worsened the pitch and damaged all the grasses left. The games were also had to be postponed. 

Apart from the club games, Nepal national team went on a Eastern Nepal tour ahead of the SAFF championships. But it may not be that beneficial for the national team. Although it helped to rendezvous the team with the supporters from other part of the nation, the tour was haphazard and poorly managed. The national team played three matches in three days winning two games and drawing one. This may be the experimental for the Graham Roberts squad but the players are over stretched in these games. Luckily the team didn't lose any of the games. In last two games, the team had to come back from goal down. Both of the goal conceded by the team were within first 10 minutes. The team travelled between three districts to play friendly matches in three straight days. Although the matches were played for only 70 minutes a match, the last match was called off 10 minutes ahead of full time owing to lack of light. This demonstrates poor management and organisation. What we are looking at now is just the efficiency of the football and not the effectiveness. Efficiency cannot serve a long term solution for development. The organisers need to consider the playing conditions and schedules otherwise we may not be playing any international competitive successes in near future.

Ram Gurung
Columnist, Nepalifootball.com

Santosh Saukhala Saves National team pride in Morang

After 2-0 win over Sunsari XI on Saturday, the national team were hopeful over convincing win repeat in Morang. But the national team which was playing the second game in the humid and hot weather in the East were punished by Deepak Rai in 7th minute. The free kick beat the previous first choice goalkeeper Bikash Malla.

The match was played with a normal time of 70 minutes. Owing to the accumulated fatigue, Nepalese team were not able to cope up with the tempo. Santosh Saukhala who was held over disciplinary issues by Graham Roberts survived the first game with a goal. He again proved his worth as he scored the third goal of the eastern Nepal tour of the national team in the 55th minute. This goal assured that National team draw with Morang XI. Nepal will play its final game of Eastern Nepal tour today with Kakkarvitta XI.

Nepal starts its National tour with a win against Sunsari XI

Jumanu Rai once again demonstrated that he is a consistent striker. He opened the score in the 6th minute against Sunsari XI while Deepak Bhusal doubled the lead in 70th minute. The players from the Dharan Academy playing for Sunsari XI showed some great skills but they were not a match for a Graham Roberts side. The national side dominated the pitch from the start of the game and won 2-0 on the day. The fans were very excited as they were able to observe their national team in front of their eyes. Nepal will play second and third match of the tour tomorrow and on monday.