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| Kathmandu, Friday March 21, 2003 Chaitra 07, 2059. |
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Nepal crawl into qualifying
round
Post Report
KATHMANDU, March 20 : Nepal entered the
qualifying round of the Asian Cup despite going down 2-0 to Kyrgyzstan in the last Group
‘C’ pre-qualifying match played at the Dashrath Stadium on Thursday.
Nepal, who needed to avoid a three-goal loss did
well against a well-grouped Kyrgyzstan side as they netted two goals in the first half
alone. Nepali defenders and especially custodian Upendra Man Singh made heroic saves to
deny the attacking Kyrgyzstan in the second half.
"We are very disappointed with our
performance specially against Afghanistan in our first match," said Kyrgyz coach
Nematjaan Zakirov after the match. "We played very well against Nepal today but in
the second half failed to convert our chances. In fact, the domestic league forced us to
bring our under-strength team here. And the second reason for our sloppy show against
Afghanistan in the first match was condition." According to the coach, they had to
play the first match just 13 hours after their arrival in Nepal.
Nepal will meet South Korea, Oman and Kuwait in
the qualifying round in South Korea coming October. The top two teams of each group in the
qualifying round along with defending champions and host nations will enter the finals
slated to be held in China next year.
The Kyrzgyzs played attacking football in the
first half creating several close chances and applying pressure to Nepal’s midfield
as the Nepali midfielders failed to impress. After flurry of attacks in the beginning the
Kyrgyzs were rewarded with a goal in the 28th minute. Jumagulov supplied a well-executed
cross from the right to Boldygin who feed Pryanishnikov at the centre and the later did
not committed any mistake to give his team a 1-0 lead.
Kyrgyzstan, who needed three clear goals,
pressed hard for another putting just two defenders at back. They doubled the lead in the
right time to go psychologically strong for the break. Again the scorer was Pryanishnikov,
who taking a well-judged header off Rajabaliev into his stride latched home the 2-0 lead
in the injury time of the first half.
The half-time talks worked for Nepal as they did
not concede further goals in the match to advance into the qualifying round. "Boys
took them lightly in the first half after watching their first match against
Afghanistan," coach Krishna Thapa said to reporters. "In fact, today’s
opponents are a very good side and after we realised their original potentials in the
first half we picked up their strength and weakness," he added.
Nepali strikers could never play the match with
outstanding touch neither the midfield supplied them passes and crosses frequently in the
match. Nirajan Rayamajhi, Ananta Thapa, Balgopal Maharjan and Hari Khadka missed the only
chances created throughout the match. Nepali winger Sukraman Tamang and Kyrgyz Adjiev were
cautioned by the match referee Rizwan Ul Haq from India.
Other Story
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