The JPR event management company is going to host a international friendly between Nepal and World Legends in 4th of November. The company were motivated after the their successful Bryan Adams tour in Kathmandu. The world Cup heroes like
1998 World Cup Champion Zinedine Zidane
two times 1994 and 2002 World Cup Champion el fenomeno Luiz Ronaldo
Dutch Legend Ruud Guilt
Former Dutch Skipper Ronald De Boer
Goal Machine Patrick Kluivert
Winston Bograde
1990 World Cup Champion Lothar Matheus
German Pillar Oliver Khan
Former Liverpool and German Midfielder Didier Hamann
and others players are expected to play in Nepal.
The JPR company still have to announce the team representing Nepal. The event is expected to be a overwhelming success as the Nepalese supporters would be able to relish the chance of life time. The Nepalese fan would be able to watch their heroes play in Dasharath Rangashala in front of their eyes.
The event was confirmed in the Official Facebook page of JPR Company.
KATHMANDU, July 29: Nepali football team restored lost pride on Thursday, five days after its 9-0 drubbing, with a 1-1 draw at home against mighty Jordan during the second leg of the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers at Dasharath Stadium.
Jordan, having hammered Nepal in the first leg at Amman, advanced into the group stage with a 10-1 win in aggregate.
To brush aside the humiliating first leg defeat, substitute Bharat Khawas scored the 80th minute goal to earn a draw, as Nepal came up from behind. Earlier, midfielder S. Murjan had put the visitors ahead in the 53rd minute.
In the stadium with a capacity crowd, Khawas achieved his target when he unleashed a powerful shot from the box in a brilliant short pass by Sahukhala, who sprinted the ball a long way before setting it for Khawas.
The draw was no less than a victory for the Nepali team and it was a result not just of the effort of the team but support from the huge home crowd, the enthusiasm of the players and the heavy downpour which started during the first half and subsided in the middle of the second half. The downpour truly favored the Nepali players, disturbing Jordan players´ more than the home side.
"Not only do we know the soil of this stadium and country but the soil also knows us very well," an emotional Nepali captain, Sagar Thapa, said during a post match press conference, adding, "When we play with great support from fans on home ground we feel like we could play carrying all 11 opponent players on our shoulders without feeling tired. I would like to salute the fans."
According to Thapa, the support of spectators at the parapet was a challenge to heavy downpour and it finally gave up. The hooting of ´Nepal, Nepal´ resounded in the 18,000 capacity stadium right from the beginning until final whistle.
"The spectators deserve the win. The crowd was fantastic and showed their pride," said Nepal´s British coach Graham Roberts. "The country has top celebrating spectators," the former England international said, adding, "We matched with Jordan today."
Jordan, which made six changes in the starting lineup including four goal scorer Hasan Abdel Mahmoud and first choice goalie Amer Sh, felt the pressure and failed to coordinate well on the slippery ground.
However, it was Jordan that took the lead with Murjan´s open header in a corner off A Deeb who had netted twice in the first leg match to stun goalie Kiran Chemjong.
But Khawas, who came off the bench in the 66th minute as replacement for Biraj Maharjan, turned the hero for the team when he got back the equalizer.
The goal aside, Nepal squandered about half a dozen scoring chances while Jordan crafted only a couple of attractive moves.
Sahukhala of Nepal, named in the starting lineup, put up a powerful and impressive show. However, he squandered a couple of chances as well. In the 44th minute he failed to hit the ball from the box after brilliantly beating two defenders. In the 35th minute also he was cleared by defenders in the box.
Nepal had nearly doubled the tally in the 46th minute when Anil Gurung´s low header rebounded from the base of the pole. Jumanu Rai hit inches wide from the six-yard box in the 81st minute and skipper Thapa´s header in Nirajan Khadka´s corner flicked by Rohit Chand sailed above the bar in the 35th. Khadka´s long range shot in the 71st minute sailed inches above bar.
Anas Hijah´s powerful freekick shot for Jordan in the 14th minute was punched by goalie Chemjong, and Baha Suleiman´s volley in a rebound went wide. Similarly, defender Chand, as a last man, made a brilliant tackle to clear Suleiman in one-on-one position.
"We dominated the show and every player played fantastic," said Roberts adding, "I have asked the boys to play from the soul for the country and the people and they did it. We also missed a couple of scoring chances." Roberts also lauded the home supporters.
Birthday boy Khawas
Thursday was a special day for Bharat Khawas. The Nepal Police Club striker turned 20 on the day and also scored a goal to help the home team earn a 1-1 draw against Jordan.
"I am very much happy today and I want to dedicate it to my teammates, coach and all football fans," Khawas told Republica. "The result was possible due to the support of all Nepalis and I would like to congratulate them." Khawas, who came in as a 66th minute replacement for Biraj Maharjan, scored the equalizer in the 80th minute.
It was Khawas´ third goal for the national team in 10 international appearances.
"I made a telephone call to my mother after the match. My parents were very much delighted," Khawas said.
"You did a great job, keep making the country proud," Khawas quoted his mother as telling him. "Probably this is the greatest day of my life as a player," he added.
KATHMANDU, July 26: The All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) on Tuesday took responsibility for the humiliating defeat of Nepal against Jordan in the first leg of the second round of FIFA World Cup 2014 qualifiers.
Interestingly, ANFA denied that it was solely responsible for the 9-0 defeat at the hands of Jordan in the first leg match held on Saturday.
"Though ANFA takes responsibility for the defeat, players and coaches are to be held equally responsible," said Lalit Krishna Shrestha, the vice-president and spokesperson of ANFA, at a press conference in the capital on Tuesday. The press meet was held to inform about the preparations for the second leg of the qualifiers to be played at the Dasharath Stadium on Thursday.
"We will try to analyze the weaknesses of every component including that of the management, coach and players. However, physical infrastructure and facilities to players should also be taken into account for the below-par performance," Shrestha said.
ANFA which allotted only three days for training following completion of the hectic A division league finally accepted that the training period for the match was insufficient. British coach Graham Roberts had repeatedly requested ANFA to allot at least three weeks for the training. But ANFA had turned a deaf ear to the coach´s request.
"We had proposed the clubs to stop the league for the time being to prepare for the World Cup. But they requested us to finish the league as soon as possible as many of them have hired foreign players. They were under pressure to get working visas for the foreign players," Shrestha said.
However, CEO Indraman Tuladhar begged to differ. "We did not stop the league for World Cup preparations hoping that the players would maintain their pace if they played matches continuously."
Regarding coach Roberts´ future in Nepal, Shrestha said, "It was not the right moment to discuss about the coach. It will be discussed after the second leg."
Preparations complete for Nepal-Jordan match
ANFA at the same function said that it has completed all the preparations for the second leg of the event to be held on Thursday. According to ANFA General Secretary Dhirendra Pradhan, the event will be held at 15:30 NST. The tickets are priced at Rs 200 for ordinary and Rs 500 for VIP parapet.
The tickets will be available on Thursday morning at KMC, VS Niketan School, Tripureshwar and Thapathali Traffic Office. The match will be telecast live by Kantipur TV.
ANFA has prohibited spectators from taking harmful objects into the stadium for security reasons. The expected cost of the event is Rs 2.2 million.
Nepal were comprehensively beaten by Jordan. The matches prior to this matches were indication of improvement of Nepalese football team. But again when it comes playing higher ranked team Nepal needs a lot of improvement defensively as well as offensively.
KATHMANDU, July 24: Nepal got the worst result ever in its history of the World Cup as it was defeated 9-0 by Jordan in the second round of World Cup Qualifiers for 2014 FIFA World Cup on Saturday in Amman, Jordan at the Amman International Stadium.
The defeat all became the fourth highest margin defeat for Nepal in all international tournament.
Nepal highest margin defeat was 16-0 defeat at the hand of South Korean during Asian Cup Qualifiers in 2003. Similarly, 12-0 against China during Olympic Qualifiers in 1987 and 11-0 against UAE in 1984 Asian Qualifiers are other highest margin defeat for Nepal.
According to agencies, Nepal conceded four goals in the first half and five in other half. Jordan came up aggressively from the beginning, piled up immense pressure and scored in regular interval.
Hasan Abdel Mahmoud who opened scoring in the 10th minute starred for the home team as he netted four goals. He scored three other goals in last 19 minutes of the match.
Amer Khalil Deeb and Ahmad Hayel netted twice, one each in either half while Abd Allah Deeb also got the target in the injury time of the first half.
The second leg of the match will be held at the Dasharat Stadium in Kathmandu on Thursday. Earlier, Nepal had defeated East Timor 7-1 in aggregate during the first round at the Dasharath Stadium.
Jordan has played 1-1 draw against Japan, defeated Saudi Arabia 1-0 and beat Syria 2-1 in the first round of the Asian Cup. Jordan lost 2-1 to Uzbekistan in the Asian Cup quarterfinal. Recently, Jordan played 2-2 draw against Uzbekistan, 1-1 draw against Kuwait and identical draw against North Korea in friendlies.
All these facts show that Jordan is too mighty for Nepal.
However, Nepali team is motivated by its win against East Timor to book first ever second round berth in World Cup Qualifiers. Nepal has played seven matches in 2011 and lost one, drawn another and won five. Nepal defeated Bhutan twice in a friendly series, beat Afghanistan during the AFC Challenge Cup and then thrashed East Timor 2-1 and 5-0 in the first round of World Cup Qualifiers. Nepal had lost to North Korea 1-0 and played goalless draw against Sri Lanka.
Nepali team has gained a winning habit in 2011 but Jordan´s achievement in Asian Cup and against tough opponents should be obviously rated high.
Jordan is well prepared for this encounter and played friendly matches. On the other side, Nepali team trained only four days because of the ongoing Martyrs Memorial League.
After realizing all these facts, expecting Nepal´s victory against Jordan could be equivalent to expecting a surprise. Even All Nepal Football Association President Ganesh Thapa thinks so. “Jordan is stronger than us and preparing well. However, I´m hopeful that our players will continue their league form and confidence of our coach will make a difference to pull a stunning result against Jordan,” said Thapa during a farewell function held for the team on Thursday.
However, national team coach Graham Roberts is determined to throw a tough challenge against Jordan. “We´ll give our best. I´ve no doubt, boys will put in 150 percent effort on the ground,” said Roberts before flying to Jordan. “We´ll return from Jordan with good result and we´ll beat them here next week,” claimed the 53-year old Briton.
Saturday´s encounter is the first between the two Asian countries. The match is scheduled to kick off 21:45 NST.
Nepal, who are coached by former England international Graham Roberts, eased into the second round with a 7-1 aggregate win over Timor Leste but will find a much sterner challenge in the shape of Jordan as the two teams meet for the first time.
Nepal’s South Asian neighbours Bangladesh, India and the Maldives are also in the Middle East this weekend.
Bangladesh negotiated their passage through the initial phase with a 3-0 aggregate win over Pakistan to set up a second round meeting with Lebanon while the Maldives renew acquaintances with Iran, who defeated the Indian Ocean islanders 26-0 over two legs in the 1998 World Cup qualifiers.
India, who were spared a first round fixture, take on the UAE in a match they will be approaching with confidence.
India will not only be able to count on a sizeable support at the Sheikh Khalifa International Stadium from the Indian expatriate community in the UAE but Armando Colaco’s side will also be buoyed by the shock 2-1 victory over Qatar in a friendly against the 2022 World Cup hosts in Doha last Sunday.
Qatar’s loss to India represents the 2011 AFC Asian Cup hosts’ fifth match without a win under recently appointed head coach Milovan Rajavec, following draws with Russia (1-1) and Neuchatel Xamax (2-2) and defeats to FC Lausanne (3-0) and Bayern Munich (4-2).
KATHMANDU, July 21: "A pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty," former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had said this during World War II.
Though it´s not World War II, Nepal has made it to the second round of the 2014 World Cup Qualifiers for the first time in its football history and is ready to face strong opponent Jordan in its away match on Thursday. Jordan, ranked 84th in the FIFA rankings, is 64 spots above Nepal, ranked 148. The first leg is scheduled to he held on Saturday.
In the first round, Nepal had defeated East Timor 7-1 in aggregate on home ground.
Nepal´s national football coach Graham Roberts is very much optimistic about his side putting up its best performance despite all odds. "I have hoped either for a goalless draw or a win," Roberts said, "The score in the first leg will be very close."
There are many other differences between the two sides besides the rankings too. Targeting the World Cup Qualifiers, Jordan has played four friendly matches over the last two weeks. It won 4-0 against Yemen and defeated Iraq 5-4 in penalty shootout, while it lost 3-1 to Syria and was defeated 4-3 on penalties by Saudi Arabia.
Nepal, on the other hand, completed the domestic league earlier on Saturday and so had just four days for preparations. But the coach did not complain about it. "Now we should look at the future and make plans accordingly. The past is already gone and we should look into the future to qualify for the group stage."
However, the 52-year old Briton does take the huge gap in ranking very lightly. "There will be 11 players against 11 in the field and a coach against a coach. And the ranking is nothing," said the coach who referred to the recent Copa America quarterfinal match match between fifth ranked Brazil and 32nd ranked Paraguay to prove his point. In the match, Paraguay had won 2-0 in penalty shootout following a goalless stalemate in regulation time.
He said the Nepali players have improved a lot in all aspects.
"I am here for the football team, the country and the [ANFA) president (Ganesh Thapa) to win the trophy," shared Roberts.
Regarding the Jordan team, the former English international said, "Jordan has a very lively and strong team. We should work hard from the very first minute, but I am not afraid of them and we are going there to win the match."
He also dismissed Jordan coach Adnan Hamad´s claim who has rated Nepal as weaker than all the teams they have played in recent friendlies. Roberts said he would show Hamad his mettle after the match.
"My players are fantastic and they are 110 percent fit and everyone is looking forward to a victory," Roberts said, adding, "We should closely examine how the opponents play in the first leg and exploit their weaknesses at home in second leg."
The second leg will be held at the Dasharath Stadium on June 28.
