With two wins each, hosts India and Kuwait advance to SAFF Championship last four
KATHMANDU, JUNE 24
Nepal faced a 2-0 defeat at the hands of defending champions India and crashed out of the SAFF Championship at the Kanjirowa Stadium in Bangalore today.
After a goalless first half, the side team scored twice in the space of eight minutes to register their second straight victory riding on goals from skipper Sunil Chhetri and Mahesh Naorem. Earlier, Kuwait hammered Pakistan 4-0 for their second win. With six points each from two matches, India and Kuwait are assured of the berths in semi-finals.
Nepal and Pakistan - who will face each other in the last game on Tuesday - crashed out of the race. India will face Kuwait to decide the group winners on the same day. Nepal, who had finished runners-up in the previous edition in Maldives, failed to make it beyond group stage for the first time in eight years. They had crashed out of the group stage in 2015.
Nepal were a better side in the first half and they also created a couple of chances. But the strikers failed to find the back of the nets. Nepal also missed the services of Anjan Bista after the striker got injured and was replaced by Awas Lamichhane before the break.
Nepal came close to taking the lead in the 17th minute of the match when Arik Bista unleashed a powerful strike from the edge of the box in rebound. But India goalkeeper Gurprit Singh Sandhu made an equally brilliant save to deny Bista and Nepal. Nepal skipper and custodian Kiran Kumar Limbu made a one-handed save to divert a sublime cross from Udanta Singh.
India broke the deadlock in the 62nd minute when skipper Chhetri found the back of the nets following a cross from Naorem to net his 91st international goal. Naorem doubled the tally with a strike from inside the box in rebound after Chhetri struck against the cross bar in the 70th minute.
Nepal skipper Kiran Kumar Limbu lauded his team's overall performance despite the second straight loss. "I am disappointed as we are crashed out of the tournament from group stage but I am satisfied with the performance of the boys," said Limbu. "The team had a lot of young players and I am super satisfied with the show as some of the boys got chance to play for the first time in the tournament. And they put up a spirited show against a strong team like India," he added.
A version of this article appears in the print on June 25, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
