The full house Dashrath Stadium witnessed an international goal fest after more than a decade when Nepal hammered Timor Leste 5-0 in the second leg of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers. The 7-1 aggregate win over the lowly opponents fixed Nepal a second round meeting with Jordan, ranked 74 places above Nepal in the FIFA
rankings.
The partisan crowd had more reasons to celebrate as it was the biggest one-sided win for Nepal in home soil in 12 years. Earlier they had recorded a 7-0 victory over neighbouring Bhutan in the 1999 South Asian Games in Kathmandu.
Nepal, 2-1 winners in the first leg, just needed a goal less draw in Saturday’s match to move through, but once the play began Nepal looked certain of bagging a memorable win as they went ahead as early as in the fourth minute through a penalty from Anil Gurung. This came immediately after Sandeep Rai had found the wood work from a free kick just a minute into the match. Timor’s misery knew no bounds. Let alone scoring, the team, which competed in the tournament to increase their FIFA rankings from 200th, failed to get even a single shot on target. Nepal opened the floodgates after the interval, bagging four goals. Bhola Silwal and Jumanu Rai scored a goal each in the 57th and 59th minute respectively, while Jagjeet Shrestha and Sujal Shrestha were on the mark towards the end of time in 89th and 90th minutes respectively.
Nepal’s British coach Graham Roberts said he was always confident of bagging an empathic win. “I told my players before the match that if we play our football well we can easily win as we have good players,” said the former Tottenham Hotspur skipper, thanking the supporters and vowing to do all in his power for the next fixture against Jordan on July 23 and July 28. A win in this stage will move the champion to the group stages. Though it was played at the Dashrath Stadium, it was an away fixture for Nepal. Both football associations - Timor and All Nepal Football Association - had agreed on playing both the matches in Nepal as FIFA had deemed the infrastructures in Timor inadequate for international matches.
With the first leg not going out as planned for Nepal due to unfavourable weather conditions (rainy), the second leg was a chance to prove their potentials. Nepal made sure they executed their plans well this time around as they charged aggressively, threatening their opponents as early as in the first minute. Skipper Sagar Thapa sent a curling free-kick only to see it come crashing off the cross bar. Jagjeet Shresth, a live-wire throughout the match, was in action a minute later.
He drew a penalty after being brought down by Correia inside the six-yard box in the third minute, and Anil Gurung, as usual, converted the resulting penalty to score his second from the spot in two matches.
Rohit Chand, who plays his club football for top-flight Indian outfit Hindustan Aeronautics in the I-League, was close to scoring in the 25th minute but saw his shot fired from a tight angle whisk past the post.
The second half saw the best from the Gurkhalis. Changes in strategy in the opponent’s play paid huge dividends for Nepal. Unable to score, Timor opted for an attacking play, allowing Nepal to make more aggressive moves. Bhola Silwal was the first to score in the second half when he capitalised on a collision between keeper Diamantino Leong and last defender Raul Dias while trying to deal Anil Gurung’s attempt. The collision had left the ball up for grab for unmarked Silwal, who made no mistake from close range.
Next on the scoring list was Jumanu, suffering from diarrhea. Unmarked inside the penalty box, Jumanu fired a quick snap volley that beat keeper in his near post.
Jagjeet was on the mark in the 89th minute. A shot fired by Anil Ojha was punched by the keeper for advancing Jagjeet to score from inside the six-yard box. Substitute Sujal Shrestha, in for Jumanu in the 64th minute, bagged the last for Nepal.
Playing squad
GK: Kiran Kumar Limbu
DF: Rohit Chand, Sagar Thapa (c), Biraj Maharjan, Bikash Singh Chhettri, Sandeep Rai
MF: Nirajan Khadka, Jagjeet Shrestha, Shiva Shrestha, Anil Ojha, Bhola Silwal
FW: Jumanu Rai, Anil Gurung, Sujal Shrestha
Coach: Graham Roberts, Upendra Man Singh and Megh Raj KC (assistant coaches)
Manager: Sunil SJB Rana
Roberts sets new mark
With today’s win Englishman Graham Roberts established himself as the most successful coach in Nepali football by winning five, drawing one and losing as many out of seven international matches. The previous record belonged to fellow Englishman Stephen Constantine, who had four wins under his belt during his stint in the 1999 South Asian Games.
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