Chittagong, April 4:

Nepali players wasted a bulk of opportunities in their 1-2 loss against Brunei in the AFC Challenge Cup Football Championship at the MA Aziz Stadium here today.

Better only to that of Guam (204) in FIFA rankings among the 16 participant nations, Brunei (199) were considered underdogs in Group ‘B’, but Nepali players lacked committment during the match and wasted as many as half-a-dozen scoring opportunities.

The win would have sent Nepal into the quarter-finals, and now they can qualify only if they beat Sri Lanka, who registered their second win of the tournament on Tuesday. A solitary goal by Chandradasa Galbodapayagalage helped Sri Lanka overcome Bhutan 1-0. The win earned them six points from two matches, while Nepal and Brunei have three each with Bhutan empty handed.

Nepali defenders and strikers were the culprits of the match. Midfielder Tashi Tsering pulled one back in the 60th minute following Vijay Gurung’s free kick after Brunei went 2-0 up in the first half. This was Tsering’s first international goal.

MD Salleh Adie Arsham gave Brunei the lead early in the 10th minute before Wahit Riwandi doubled the tally three minutes before the break. Nepal’s several attempts rebounded off the post while strikers muffed up easy golden opportunities. Surendra Tamang’s shot hit the post in the fifth minute while Tsering’s strike in the second half injury time hit post. Vijay Gurung shot wide in a rare chance following Basanta Thapa’s pass inside the box.

Trailed by two goals, Nepali coach Shyam Thapa tried all his weapons in the second half, but the substitutes also failed to bear fruit. The coach brougt Suman Subedi in place of Pradeep Maharjan, replaced Vijay Gurung with Jumanu Rai, and Ramesh Budhathoki came in for Vishan Gauchan.

Tsering disappointed a small number of Nepali fans when he missed an easy scoring chance from six yards in the 58th minute. Basanta’s header on a Anjan KC cross went out hitting the bar in the 78th minute and a minute later Raju Tamang failed to score from six yards when Brunei goalkeeper Azman Ilham Noor was out of his place.

Coach Thapa, who had claimed a comfortable win, blamed poor defence and luck for the loss. “Upsets are part of the football,” Thapa consoled himself. He, however, was confident to qualify for the quarter-finals by beating Sri Lanka.

Earlier, the Group ‘D’ match between Kyrgyzstan and Macau was abandoned due to heavy rain and storm.

Kyrgyzstan was leading 1-0, thanks to a 18th minute strike by Vladimir Verevkin. But heavy storm and rain lashed Dhaka in the 31st minute, which forced the organisers to abandon the match.

Odil Irgashev scored one and set the other for Numondzhon Hakimov as Tajikistan brightened their chances to qualify for the quarter-finals with a 2-0 victory over Pakistan from Group ‘D’ at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka.