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The Under-23 national football team of Nepal\u2019s debacle at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia was\/is a big setback.
\nIt is no exaggeration to say that the result is a sorry reflection of the declining standard of Nepali football.
\nThree straight defeats pretty much sums up Nepal\u2019s abject performance.It was very frustrating and very disheartening to see the team fail to perform up to their potential and concede, especially the match to Pakistan, which they should have won.
\nContrary to expectations,Nepal lost to the Pakistani side in transition, playing their first international competition in three years.
\nThe 1-2 defeat to Pakistan clearly underlines Nepal\u2019s mediocrity and ongoing slump in international competitions.
\nNepal\u2019s loss to superior opponents Vietnam and Japan was no surprise. In fact, prior to both matches, the likelihood of defeat was on the cards.
\nThe only way they could have prevented was by beating the odds,but unfortunately they failed to do so.
\nDespite two defeats, Nepal still had an outside chance to qualify for the knockout stage as one of the best four third place finishers.
\nIn the last match against Pakistan, Nepal needed a big play and a big result in terms of goals to be in contention for the knockout stage.
\nMore important,they had a golden opportunity to end the winless streak at the Asian Games spanning over two decades.
\nTo add, the fixture was a momentum builder for Nepal heading into the South Asian Federation Football Championship(SAFFC) taking place in Bangladesh.
\nWith so much at stake,the significance of the match was huge for Nepal.They had everything to lose.
\nMuch to everyone\u2019s dismay, Nepal had their chance and they blew it,despite a promising start in the opening 45 minutes of play.
\nThe team failed to get into much of a rhythm, control the tempo and overcome sloppy play in the second half, which led to their downfall.It is fair to say that they made a mess of it.
\nThere is nothing much to write about Team Nepal\u2019s overall performance. The bottom place finish speaks for itself. I will say though they were complacent and performed poorly.
\nWell, here we are back to square one, another tournament and another disappointment.The end result is the same and the jinx continues.
\nNepal\u2019s performance has become predictable lately.They have been underperforming and unable to deliver results even against inferior opponents,raising many questions and concerns.
\nJapanese Coach Gyotoku Koji departure was long overdue.He leaves behind a team desperately struggling to regain form.
\nTeam Nepal\u2019s performance remained stagnant for the most part under the Japanese stewardship.He lacked dynamism, was unable to motivate players and steer the team in a new direction.
\nThe appointment of Bal Gopal Maharjan as interim head coach in place of the Japanese is a good move by the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA).
\nLike any coach Maharjan hands are tied by the challenging circumstances surrounding Nepal football.
\nIt all comes down to his vision, approach and acumenship when it comes to handling the team in terms of tactics, strategies and selection of players. He must address performance issues going forward.
\nFirst and foremost, Maharjan has to build players\u2019 confidence and inspire them to improve, achieve and succeed.
\nMaintaining team discipline should be his top priority.He has to make sure players maintain one hundred percent discipline.Disciplinary action must be taken against those violating the code of conduct.
\nANFA made a mockery of itself by sparing discipline breakers before the Asian Games and setting a bad precedent.
\nTeam Nepal faces a big challenge in the SAFFC.They must shrug off years of underperformance to be a serious contender in the competition.
\nAs a unit, they have to improve dramatically, offensively and defensively.The offense and midfield have been listless and unproductive.
\nThis has to change,and they have to display thrust,cohesion ,chemistry and execution.Else it might just turn out to be another disaster.
\nNepal,Bangladesh,Bhutan and Pakistan are drawn in the same group.Though the competition is wide open, Nepal needs a great start to build early momentum.
\nIn an intriguing matchup they are pitted against Pakistan in the opener.They cannot afford to become lethargic, uninspired and uncompetitive.
\nOn the other hand,Pakistan\u2019s victory over Nepal at the 2018 Asian Games gives them a psychological edge going into the match,and they enjoy physical advantage as well.
\nBangladesh will be hoping to ride the Asian Games momentum heading into the competition.Besides,they have the important home advantage.
\nThe fourth team in the group Bhutan are a rejuvenated and transformed unit.They are no longer easy prey to opponents and cannot be underestimated.
\nNo doubt, SAFFC will be the real test for Team Nepal and is yet another opportunity to redeem themselves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Under-23 national football team of Nepal\u2019s debacle at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia was\/is a big setback. It is no exaggeration to say that the result is a sorry reflection of the declining standard of Nepali football. Three straight defeats pretty much sums up Nepal\u2019s abject performance.It was very frustrating and very disheartening […]<\/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-616","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\/616","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=616"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/nepalipost.com\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":617,"href":"http:\/\/nepalipost.com\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616\/revisions\/617"}],"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=616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nepalipost.com\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nepalipost.com\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}