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The ongoing\u00a0 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers is in full swing. With one win and one defeat, it has been one real topsy-turvy affair for the national football team of Nepal so far.<\/p>\n
The journey ahead\u00a0 is long, arduous for Team Nepal as they\u00a0 face high -quality opponents.They\u00a0 must play to their potential and cannot afford to be mediocre if they wish to make a positive impression in the tournament.<\/p>\n
Back to competing in football\u2019s biggest tourney in quite some time,Nepal\u00a0 is in a very formidable group alongside Australia,Kuwait, Jordan and Chinese Taipei.<\/p>\n
Undoubtedly, Team Nepal has an uphill task going forward, however, they have been given the chance to play against some of the best teams in the tournament.<\/p>\n
Admittedly, they stand very little chance against the physically stronger, technically\u00a0 superior and well prepared opponents in the group.<\/p>\n
If we take into account the national\u00a0 team\u2019s recent\u00a0 poor\u00a0 international results,coupled with lackacadical performances, inconsistency\u00a0 and inadequate preparations, expectations\u00a0 for Nepal was never high,prior to the start of the tournament.<\/p>\n
It is a foregone conclusion\u00a0 that Nepal is not going to make it to the next round. That being said, right now eyes are on the team\u2019s overall performance.<\/p>\n
All that really matters is\u00a0 a decent\u00a0 and reasonable performance under very challenging circumstances. That should be the ultimate goal for the team.<\/p>\n
As things stand, we should be less worried about where Team Nepal finishes in the group. The tournament\u00a0 provides players the much needed international exposure.Also it is a big opportunity\u00a0 for players to showcase their talent and learn the finer points of the game.<\/p>\n
In addition, it allows players\u00a0 to gain valuable\u00a0 experience in the games. But most importantly, there has to be serious efforts on the part of players to seize and make the most of opportunities.<\/p>\n
They must generate extra enthusiasm,high energy\u00a0 and strive to play the best caliber of football.They have nothing to lose. Don\u2019t give up, bring your best game\u00a0 and give maximum effort. There is no shame in losing to a better team.<\/p>\n
Nepal\u2019s crushing 7-0 defeat at the hands of Kuwait in the opener\u00a0 came as a big surprise.
\nThey were expected to lose but not by a wide margin.<\/p>\n
By and large, they played poorly and never\u00a0 got going in every department of the game. The performance was below par, and they meekly surrendered the game.<\/p>\n
After badly stumbling against Kuwait, it was quite a relief to see Team Nepal bounce back in style against Chinese Taipei by carving out a moral boosting 2-0 victory.<\/p>\n
The win gives team confidence\u00a0 and\u00a0 momentum going into games against\u00a0 heavyweights Australia and Jordan in the immediate future.<\/p>\n
As clear underdogs,they must stay positive and mentally tough no matter what happens. Be focused, go out there and play well.<\/p>\n
Despite\u00a0 appointment\u00a0 of\u00a0 Swedish\u00a0 Johan Kalin as head\u00a0 coach of Team Nepal, approach to preparing and training\u00a0 the team for major\u00a0 tournaments remain the same.The absence\u00a0 of high performing team culture for success continues to\u00a0 impede all team\u00a0 progress.<\/p>\n
Coach Kalin is no stranger to Nepal football. He\u00a0 is well aware of the challenges and difficulties he faces. Given the relatively limited resources at his disposal, he has got his work cut out for him.There is not much he can do to turn things around.<\/p>\n
There is no end in sight to Nepal\u2019s struggle in international football.They have\u00a0 continually underperformed and failed miserably\u00a0 to achieve\u00a0 results for\u00a0 a substantial period of time.All in all, it has been an agonizing and frustrating tale of setbacks, one after another.<\/p>\n
Everyone agrees that Team Nepal is off pace on international stage and unable to keep up with the times. Looking at the current domestic football trend and scenario, which is far from encouraging, the national team\u2019s\u00a0 insipid performance and streak of poor results does not come as a surprise.<\/p>\n
It is fair to say that mismanagement and maladministration is\u00a0 still the bane of Nepal football.
\n20 plus years on,the same old problems: poor infrastructure ,inadequate facilities, corruption, paucity of funds, absence of\u00a0 grassroot development , politicization of ANFA\u00a0 and government apathy towards sports,\u00a0 plague Nepal football and footballers<\/p>\n
\u201cDasharath Rangasala\u201d, the only international stadium in the country still lies in dilapidated state. This is\u00a0 overwhelming evidence of\u00a0 government\u2019s absolute apathy and negligence towards sports.<\/p>\n
Shockingly, there is no urgency for speedy completion of renovation work on the part of Sports Ministry and National Sports Council.As a result, Nepal has been denied chance to\u00a0 host home matches. What a shame! What a pity !<\/p>\n
Domestic football\u2019s landscape in Nepal remains\u00a0 more or less the same.So little has changed for the better since Mr.Karma Tsering Sherpa became ANFA President.<\/p>\n
Optimism within\u00a0 the football community was high when Mr. Sherpa took over ANFA.Contrary to expectations,he has turned out to be quite a disappointment when it comes to effective leadership until now.<\/p>\n
I do understand how incredibly frustrating this is for us fans of Nepal football. Mr. Sherpa administration has been guilty of repeating\u00a0 blunders of the previous administration.<\/p>\n
In my humble opinion, ANFA still does not have an\u00a0 effective working professionals.The executives mindsets and attitude about football development doesn\u2019t seem to have changed.<\/p>\n
If Mr.Sherpa and his team pursue the previous\u00a0 administration\u2019s destructive path and keep doing\u00a0 things the same way,they will keep getting\u00a0 the same results.I am afraid that things will go from bad to worse.<\/p>\n
Supporters of ANFA would argue, Mr. Sherpa and his team have shown good intentions and done a fairly good job in a short period of time.<\/p>\n
I understand\u00a0 the football association\u00a0 has joined hands with a host of\u00a0 sponsors, made public staging of\u00a0 numerous tournaments, put\u00a0 together long-term development goals, organized coaches and referees clinics and many more.That\u2019s all fine.<\/p>\n
However, much remains to be desired\u00a0 in governance\u00a0 and management\u00a0 of the game.\u00a0 Without good governance reforms,transparent management,\u00a0 effective\u00a0 stewardship,nothing will\u00a0 fundamentally change or can be achieved.<\/p>\n
ANFA must undertake sweeping reforms to address pressing issues facing Nepal football\u00a0\u00a0 that truly would produce meaningful\u00a0 change. That is yet to be seen. Moving in the right direction is a must.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The ongoing\u00a0 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers is in full swing. With one win and one defeat, it has been one real topsy-turvy affair for the national football team of Nepal so far. The journey ahead\u00a0 is long, arduous for Team Nepal as they\u00a0 face high -quality opponents.They\u00a0 must play to their potential and cannot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nepalipost.com\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nepalipost.com\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nepalipost.com\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nepalipost.com\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nepalipost.com\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2026"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/nepalipost.com\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2027,"href":"http:\/\/nepalipost.com\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2026\/revisions\/2027"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nepalipost.com\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nepalipost.com\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nepalipost.com\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nepalipost.com\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}