Manish Dangi scores solitary goal in the second leg match
KATHMANDU, OCTOBER 17
Nepal defeated Laos 1-0 in the second leg match of the World Cup Qualifiers at the National Stadium in Vientiane and advanced to the second round with a 2-1 aggregate victory today.
Manish Dangi scored the solitary goal of the match in the second half, which was enough for Nepal to make it to the second round of the Qualifiers. After a goalless first half, Dangi put Nepal ahead in the 53rd minute when he found the back of the nets following a pass from Anjan Bista. Nepal skipper and goalkeeper Kiran Kumar Limbu ensured Nepal's victory with a brilliant save in the injury time of the match.
The two teams had played a 1-1 draw in the first leg match at the Dasharath Stadium last week after Anjan Bista scored the equaliser in the second half. With the win, Nepal joined the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Yemen in Group H, Nepal made three changes to the team that played a draw at home but the team failed to fire in first half.
Dinesh Henjan, Utsav Rai and Arik Bista made it to the starting XI in place of Ayush Ghalan, Awas Lamichhane and Ashish Chaudhary respectively.
Defender Amrit Shrestha made his nationalteam debut from the match after he replaced Gillespye Jung Karki in the injury time.
Nepal coach Vincenzo Annese lauded his boys for putting in their hard work in the match. "It was a must win match for us and the boys played very well. I am proud of my team," said the Italian.
"Now we will have more competitive matches and the boys will have more opportunities to do better for the country and themselves. It was very significant for me to qualify as well." Annese said the team could have done even better.
"We had several opportunities in both halves where we should have done better. We made some mistakes but it's a process and we are learning as the boys are young and have better days ahead."
Goalscorer Dangi was excited about the victory. "Firstly, congratulations to all the team members and staff. We deserve the win," he said.
"We followed the coach as we believed in him. I want to dedicate this win to the coach, the way he prepared us to fight and inspiring the players to give their best," he said. "We are happy to give a gift of Dashain festival to the supporters back home," Dangi added. "We have important matches in November and for that, we need to work hard."
Laos assistant coach Phoutpasong Sengdalavong congratulated Nepal for progressing to the second round.
"We missed our important player to injury. The match was another learning opportunity for our players who are young and can only get better," he said. "We wish Nepal the best in the group stage. We made several mistakes and have a lot to work on."
A version of this article appears in the print on October 17, 2023, of The Himalayan Times
