KATHMANDU, AUGUST 4

Nepal U-20 football team head coach Megh Raj KC said the players were devastated by the way India scored goals against them in the SAFF U-20 Championship in Bhubaneswor.

'India showed us our level in football,' said dejected coach KC upon the team's arrival at the Tribhuvan International Airport. 'We were excited before the tour and we were totally unaware of the opponents.

We thought we are also not far behind other South Asian countries in football,' he said. 'But the third match proved that our investment and hard work are not adequate to compete in the region,' added KC.

KC said he was also devastated by the mauling from the Indian team. 'I regretted coming into the sport for the second time in my 32-year career in football. I had the similar feeling in 2011 when we faced a 9-0 loss against Jordan in World Cup Asia Qualifiers,' he said. 'I could not believe the results as our team was not that weak.'

KC apologised to all the stakeholders for the poor result. 'Our first target was to reach the final. The team played to its potential in the first two matches, beating Maldives 4-0 and Sri Lanka 3-0. We wanted to beat India to secure the spot in final. And the team was good and the players also put in their best efforts. We are not looking for excuses but the players were simply hapless on the pitch against India,' he said.

Coach KC said the Indian team was totally different in the match against Nepal with eight new players. 'As a host nation, India utilised the facilities properly. They had registered some 40 players for the tournament and the team management had a lot of options,' he said. 'The result showed that our selection and preparation were not up to the mark, although I am happy with the way we entered the event,' he said. KC said the players had a lot of potential and they were able to take Nepali football to next level to some extent. 'This team is a raw one. The players need exposure and I believe they are capable of taking Nepali football to next level,' he said.

All Nepal Football Association President Pankaj Bikram Nembang welcomed the team and said the ANFA was planning to make the academy strong. 'The previous leadership did not take the ANFA Academy seriously and we did not have adequate age-group players to form a strong team,' said Nembang. 'The ANFA Academy's age-group teams used to be strong ones and we ruled in South Asia in the past.

The case is different this time around we had to conduct am open selection,' he said.

'We are planning to revive the ANFA Academy and we will also coordinate with various stakeholders including local-level governments and National Sports Council,' he added.

Nembang said the team's performance in the tournament, except for the unexpected result against India, was satisfactory. Skipper Ayush Ghalan said the team was hapless in the match against India.

'We have a lot of rooms to improve and we also got the opportunity to learn from the India match,' said Ghalan, the lone player with 'A' division experience in the team.

A version of this article appears in the print on August 5, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.