By Sushil Thapa, Fairfax, Virginia
As a staunch supporter I wanted Nepal to get off to a perfect start in the opener against fanciedMaldives in the ongoing SAFF Championship in New Delhi, India. I had my head scratching, following Maldives’ opening goal at the fag end of the first half.
Thanks to central defender Sandip’s magnificentheader in the opening minutes of the second half we wereable to restore parity. Although the match concluded in a 1-1 draw, clearly, weshould have prevailed considering the fact that we controlled the proceedings from start to end.
Without a doubt we were the better side in every departmentof the game and had the opponent frantically defend their citadel. The boys played aggressively and spiritedly,and they never allowed the opponent to settle down.
The defense looked rock solid and held their ground. Themid-fielders came up big, especiallyBijay Gurung who marshaled the moves withclinical precision.
Upcoming Rabin Shrestha was another player to have captivated my imagination. In the role of an overlapping defender the wiry youngster worked tirelessly. At the end of the day, obviously, poor finishand inability to cash in on scoring chances let us down.
No matter how good we play, it becomes irrelevant if we fail to score. The attack spearheaded by experienced Anil, Santosh and Jumanu did show flashes of brilliance , coupled with cohesion but lacked killer punch, penetration and good finish. By and large, they were far from their best and personally I am somewhat disappointed.
The sloppy and erratic performance of Maldives took me by surprise. They were fortunate to have weathered the storm.
Football observers and media people have heaped praises on Nepal’s performance , and they seriously believe that we have the potential to win the championship,that we all have yearned for so long.
We did squander the chance to register an outright win ,however, the result is a morale booster. In his post match interview the Coach sounded very optimistic about Nepal’s chances, which was expected.
That having said , it is very important that we do not get carried away needlessly. We need to stay composed, focused and perform consistently for further success. Bangladesh and Pakistan might have looked mediocre in their listless goalless draw, but they are tough outfits to overcome.
If they up the ante just a bit, it could make a big difference for the team in terms of performance. I do hope Coach Roberts succeeds in his endeavor.
The manner in which the championship has panned out, the race is wide open.
The huge Jawaharlal Nehrustadium, venue of the championship has been devoid of spectators. This clearly indicates lack of support for the tournament, something to worry about. Well into its ninth edition the competition is yet to growin popularity and stature. The quality of play that is sub-standard has kept away football goers away from the championship. The four matches we witnessed are testimony to this.
For the moment let us all become part of the championship and enjoy every minute of the action.
INDIAN R BUSTARD.
THEY DEPRIVED BANGLADESH A PENALTY>
THEY WILL CRY VERY SOON.
TAKE PREPARATION FOR IT
Sure, but you did not look into the Maldives point-of-view. Maldives was never a good starter on the first match, and rather likes to proceed along the matches, growing considerably every time. This is shown by 0-0 against Pakistan today, in which Maldives dominated mostly all of the game. Maldivians have nothing against the Nepalese, but take into account they were the ones bragging before the match. And after the match they had said that Maldivians were lucky it was a draw. Anyone would be annoyed by that coach obviously too full of himself.
Overall, I think this is just the first match, no need to get excited, opportunities to win not favorable to at all to any one team, and just watch the next matches before predicting future winners.
PS: I think Nepalese were a let down considering they were bragging about winning by a considerable margin whereas the humble Maldivians did not! 😛
I went through SAFF history , and Maldives clearly looked stronger team than Nepal. But after seeing the game Nepal proved to be much better team.Although I really loved the goal by Maldives.
Its true Nepali coach loves to brag(Like a lot) but he definitely gave Nepalese Football team a new direction.
And its weird you finding this whole bragging thing so obnoxious..its show biz!!! Grow up!!!