KATHMANDU, JUNE 9
Nepal national football team faced a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Jordan in the first match of the AFC Asian Cup Group A Qualifiers at the Jaber Al-Ahmad International Stadium in Kuwait City on Wednesday.
Nepal held Jordan to a goalless draw in the first half after debutante goalkeeper Deep Karki saved a penalty, but they conceded two goals after the break.
Nepal, who left for Kuwait without 11 regular national team members including skipper Kiran Kumar Limbu, was under pressure throughout the match but they were able to stop Jordan from scoring for more than an hour.
Jordan took the lead in the 69th minute when Ali Iyad Olwan found the back of the nets from inside the penalty box. Jordan then doubled the tally through Hamza Ali Daradreh's spot kick in the 82nd minute. Earlier, Nepal goalkeeper Karki saved Mousa Mohammad Suleiman's penalty with an accurate dive towards his left.
Nepal head coach Abdullah Almutairi allegedly kicked 10 players - Rohit Chand, Sujal Shrestha, Ananta Tamang, Bimal Gharti Magar, Anjan Bista, Bishal Shrestha, Bishal Rai, Dinesh Rajbanshi, Tej Tamang and Suman Lama - out from the national team camp in Kathmandu and never considered them in the squad. Skipper Limbu, who supported the agitating players, was never called for the national team duty from Maldives, where is playing professional football. Almutairi instead called 17 new faces in the team before flying to Qatar for final leg of preparation.
The All Nepal Football Association formed a three-member probe committee to find the facts.
The committee identified head coach Almutairi, team manager Madhu Sudan Upadhyay, ANFA Secretariat and players guilty in the episode.
The committee has suggested the ANFA to find the alternative of Almutairi after the AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers and allowed him to keep the players out of the national team for the tournament. The ANFA had already approved Almutairi's list even before the committee had submitted its report.
On Wednesday, Almutairi named the starting XI with four each forwards and defenders. He handed national team debut to goalkeeper Karki and defender Bikash Tamang. Tribhuvan Army Club striker Nawayug Shrestha led the national team for the first time.
In another Group A match, Indonesia upset Kuwait 2-1. After first round, Jordan are at the top ahead of Indonesia on better goal difference after both teams earned three points each. Kuwait and Nepal faced defeats in the first round.
Top team each from all six groups and five best-runners up will make it to next year's AFC Asian Cup.
A version of this article appears in the print on June 10, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
