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Nepal go down 0-1 to Bangladesh in international friendly

Nepal go down 0-1 to Bangladesh in international friendly

By THT Online

The Nepali national football team pose for a photo before the International friendly match against Bangladesh at Bangabandhu Stadium on Thursday, December 17, 2015. Courtesy: ANFA

KATHMANDU: Nepal lost their friendly match 0-1 to Bangladesh played at the Bangabandhu Stadium in Dhaka on Thursday. The national football team are currently in the Bangladeshi capital to play the international friendly with the host, as a part of preparation for the up-coming SAFF Suzuki Cup slated to be held in Trivandrum, India from 23 December 2015 to 3 January 2016. Rony's single goal in the 18th minute of the match was proved to be the decisive goal as Nepal could not equalise till the end of the match. The goal drought of Nepal in international matches still continued today also. On Wednesday press conference, the Nepal team head coach Patrick Aussems had said “We are starting a new mission, the team has the abilities, my job is to set the tone, I will start it from tomorrow”. The national team had left for Dhaka on Tuesday evening after playing a couple of friendly matches with the departmental teams of Nepal Police Club and Tribhuvan Army Club. The team will hold three days of training camps in Bangladesh before flying to India to participate in the up-coming regional tournament. Nepal along with host India and Sri Lanka  are in Group A, whereas Bangladesh, defending champions Afghanistan, Bhutan and Maldives in Group B. Pakistan, however, pulled out of the tournament. In today's match, Aussems had given an opportunity of debut for the two rookie footballers, Heman Gurung and Nabin Lama. Anil Gurung had led the side for the one-off friendly international before they take on Sri Lanka in their opening game of the SAFF Suzuki Cup 2015 in Trivandrum, India. Nepal's playing XI Bikesh Kuthu (GK), Ranjit Dhimal, Aditya Chaudhary, Jitendra Karki, Biraj Maharjan, Bikram Lama, Bishal Rai, Heman Gurung, Nabin Lama, Anjan Bista and Anil Gurung (c).