"When would life return to normalcy?" is a question that every Nepalese has been asking. And to lift the population from a gloom, football has come up to put ointment in the wounds that Nepalese are nursing for quite a long time. Nepal won an international tournament after 23 years and they did it in style by defeating U-23 team of Bahrain 3-0 in the final of the Bangabandhu Gold Cup in Dhaka, Bangladesh on Friday.

Celebrations across the country began because it is a title that comes at a time when hopes in each and every quarter of life has been diminishing. Nepalese are combative and they join hands together in the times of crisis but for how long? The longer crisis continues, tolerance is further tested and frustration continues. Nepal has been crisis for the last nine months and they needed a message that would convey, hope remains. The message was delivered by the national football team.

A Nepal ‘Red’ team won the Prime Minister’s Cup in Kathmandu in 2009, the value of that tournament was not that significant because it involved two teams from the hosts itself. Their biggest achievement in between has been a final place in the 1999 SA Games that was also held in Kathmandu. Nepal were restricted to silver after they lost 1-0 to Bangladesh.

If the country was hit by a devastating earthquake and is going through a crisis, Nepali football carries a similar story. In a shocking turn of events, five Nepali footballers, including current nationals in skipper Sagar Thapa, his deputy Sandip Rai and goalkeeper Ritesh Thapa were slapped with a life ban for their involvement in match-fixing. It was a quake that shook Nepali football. And, the president of the country’s football governing body, Ganesh Thapa, was also given eight-year ban by the FIFA in charges of bribery and corruption.

"A historic day," said an ecstatic coach Bal Gopal Maharjan who knows how Nepali football now needs to move ahead. "Its time for us to forget the off-field scandals and move ahead," added the coach who recently handed Nepal the first SAFF U-19 Football Championship title at the home soil.

Nepal have slid to 196th in the world rankings, once they boasted 136th spot among the 209 FIFA member countries. Almost one generation is in the threshold of bidding adieu to Nepali football. Under these circumstance, a 26-year old Biraj Maharjan wore the captain’s armband leading Nepal to a historic title at the Bangabandhu National Stadium, the same ground that gave the 1993 SA Games gold.

Nepal, though managed to break the goal drought through Bimal Gharti Magar in their next group match against India, they were ultimately hammered 4-1 to make an early exit from the tournament. Nepal’s newly recruited coach Patrick Aussems then blasted the football governing body for doing nothing for the new generation of footballers and walked out of his contract and it opened doors for Maharjan to look after the boys.

With modesty, Maharjan told media before leaving for Bangladesh that their main objective was to reach the semi-finals of the Gold Cup, a statement that underlined Nepal were clearly ranked an outsiders. The tournament unfolded according to the tag that they had wore on. Nepal began by playing a lacklustre goalless draw against Felda United — a top tier club of Malaysia.

In a display of technical and attacking football, Nepal crushed Maldives 4-1 in the semi-finals where striker Nawayug Shrestha took the match by storm with a hat-trick. It was fifth international hat-trick from a Nepali footballer joining the ranks of Ganesh Thapa, Naresh Joshi, Nirajan Rayamajhi and Bharat Khawas.

Nepal had already exceeded expectations by winning the semi-final and in another dominating performance they kissed glory defeating Bahrain with a clinical display. U-19 skipper Bimal Gharti Magar, Bishal Rai and Nawayug struck in Nepal’s historic victory. Skipper Biraj had a unique statement when he was asked how it was possible to win the title.

"After reaching the semi-finals, we asked ourselves if we can be in the semis why don’t we win it. We won it. And if we can reach the final, why don’t we win it. We did it. It was the result of hard work and the integrity in the team," said Biraj.

Soon after Nawayug’s hat-trick led Nepal to a thumping 4-1 win over Maldives, social media users had their own style of interpretation. "Nawa (new), Yug (era) has struck a hat-trick to herald a new era of Nepali football," a tweet was found, which might have been rightly interpretated. At a time when goals are hard to come by, Nepal produced seven goals in its last two matches, four of them were scored by Nawayug. He ended up becoming tournament’s highest scorer and most valuable player.

Nepal are preparing for the 12th SA Games in India, where football is an U-23 event. Taking the Bangabandhu Gold Cup as a tournament to fine-tune their preparation, they left out 10 of the team members that played the SAFF Championship in India. The triumphant squad includes almost a fresh crop of Nepali football that is itching to get into the senior fold, although the team was registered as a full Nepali team for the Bangabandhu Gold Cup.

The Bangabandhu Gold Cup triumph, no doubt, signals a new era in football which is now expected to be led by players like Nawayug, Bimal and an exciting talent Anjan Bista. Both Nawayug and Bimal have proved themselves in terms of stats, Bista, who didn’t score a goal in the tournament, has bolstered Nepal’s attack by the fine run he makes and the dribbling skills he has been displaying.

Goalkeeper Bikesh Kuthu is another hope in Nepali football and the custodian has already signalled his arrival in Nepali football. Nepal only conceded a single goal during the tournament, thanks to an excellent goalkeeping from Bikesh who cancelled out each and every attack of the opponents with seer athleticism and proper judgement.

The current squad has promised a lot and captain Biraj looks forward for a bright future. "There are very exciting talents in the current squad and they are young. Provided they are given regular exposure, we can produce more results like these," said Biraj.