NEPAL VS MALDIVES
Nepal would consider the 1-1 result against Maldives at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Delhi, as two points dropped given the
number of chances that came their way.
Anil Gurung was the villain for the team in Blue as he squandered as many three opportunities wherein he could have put the match beyond Maldives’ reach.
Maldives coach Istvan Urbanyi started with a 4-4-2 formation with Ali
Ashfaq and Ahmed Thariq starting upfront. Rabin Shrestha and Biraj
Maharjan were the two full-backs for Nepal.
It was Nepal who started better as they looked to attack from the word go which kept Maldives confined pretty much to their own half. The central midfield pairing of Mohamed Arif and Ibrahim Fazeel were nowhere to be seen for the Island nation and hence their strikers hardly got to see the ball.Anil Gurung had a great chance from inside the box from where his swirling shot went wide. Rabin Shrestha, in particular, added an extra dimension in attack for Nepal.
Imran Mohammed had to affect a save from an Anil Gurung effort just around the half hour mark.
Maldives led at half-time thanks to a 25 yard strike by Ali Ashfaq which zoomed past the Kiran Kumar Limbu. This was completely against the run of play as it was Nepal who had dominated the proceedings for much of the first half.
It took just six minutes for Nepal to equalize when Sandip Rai headed home from a Raju Tamang corner-kick to send the assembled fans into ecstasy.
A minute later, Rabin Shrestha’s shot comes off the cross bar after Biraj Maharjan did well to deliver a pinpoint cross.
Around the hour mark, Anil Gurung wasted yet another chance which came his way with Rabin Shrestha sending in a cross from the left which the former couldn’t slot home.
Nepal appealed for a penalty when Jumanu Rai’s shot hit Akram Abdul Gani’s hand inside the box. Referee Sukhbir Singh chose not to pay much attention to the said incident.
Shamweel Qasim chipped the ball hoping to catch the Nepali custodian sleeping but Kiram Kumar Limbu was up to the task and warded off the danger.
Towards the end, Maldives earned a flurry of flag-kicks from which nothing substantial came out.
The scoreline remained the same until the final whistle with Maldives being lucky to come away with a point from this fixture.
Anil Gurung was the villain for the team in Blue as he squandered as many three opportunities wherein he could have put the match beyond Maldives’ reach.
Maldives coach Istvan Urbanyi started with a 4-4-2 formation with Ali
Ashfaq and Ahmed Thariq starting upfront. Rabin Shrestha and Biraj
Maharjan were the two full-backs for Nepal.It was Nepal who started better as they looked to attack from the word go which kept Maldives confined pretty much to their own half. The central midfield pairing of Mohamed Arif and Ibrahim Fazeel were nowhere to be seen for the Island nation and hence their strikers hardly got to see the ball.Anil Gurung had a great chance from inside the box from where his swirling shot went wide. Rabin Shrestha, in particular, added an extra dimension in attack for Nepal.
Imran Mohammed had to affect a save from an Anil Gurung effort just around the half hour mark.
Maldives led at half-time thanks to a 25 yard strike by Ali Ashfaq which zoomed past the Kiran Kumar Limbu. This was completely against the run of play as it was Nepal who had dominated the proceedings for much of the first half.
It took just six minutes for Nepal to equalize when Sandip Rai headed home from a Raju Tamang corner-kick to send the assembled fans into ecstasy.
A minute later, Rabin Shrestha’s shot comes off the cross bar after Biraj Maharjan did well to deliver a pinpoint cross.
Around the hour mark, Anil Gurung wasted yet another chance which came his way with Rabin Shrestha sending in a cross from the left which the former couldn’t slot home.
Nepal appealed for a penalty when Jumanu Rai’s shot hit Akram Abdul Gani’s hand inside the box. Referee Sukhbir Singh chose not to pay much attention to the said incident.
Shamweel Qasim chipped the ball hoping to catch the Nepali custodian sleeping but Kiram Kumar Limbu was up to the task and warded off the danger.
Towards the end, Maldives earned a flurry of flag-kicks from which nothing substantial came out.
The scoreline remained the same until the final whistle with Maldives being lucky to come away with a point from this fixture.
No comments:
Post a Comment