Nepali Football Team
In a sensational championship match, Nepal made a remarkable comeback to beat the Indian side at their home soil after little known Prakash Budhathoki scored one goal and assisted for the other. India took a 31st minute lead through a Halicharan Narzary’s penalty.
But Nepal came out as a different team in the second half exerting more pressure at the Indian half before the first goal came in the 65th minute through Budhathoki. The U-23 midfielder drilled into the Indian goal his powerful 25-yard freekick with goalkeeper Rehenesh TP stuck to his ground.
The winner game from Nepali football’s new face Nawayug Shrestha with a athletic finish in the 72nd minute. Shrestha kept his composure at the Indian goal mouth and excellently poked in a dipping cross from Praskash. As final whistle blew, Nepalese went into frenzy because they had beaten their fierce rival with a clinical finish.
Nepal’s gold in the Games came exactly 23 days after they won the Bangabandhu Gold Cup in Bangladesh. It was Nepal’s third gold in the Games having also won it in 1984 in Kathmandu.
The coveted gold from the young looking squad has come at a time when Nepali football itself is in a verge of transition. With one generation of footballers bidding adieu to the field or kept out due to injuries, Nepali football has not gone to the hands of young boys who have come from the ranks of U-19.
As fresh face of Nawayug, Bimal Gharti Magar, Anjan Bista, Bishal Rai, Prakash, Bikram Lama, Aditya Chaudhary and many other youngsters have succeeded in coming up with positive results, it can be assumed that Nepali football has gone into safe hands. DREAMS wishes them all the best for a bright future.
(Photo: The Himalayan Times)