Three Star had already secured a place for the final rounds before its match against TPC after Erchim FC of Mongolia defeated Abahani Limited of Bangladesh 1-0 in the kick off match at the Dasharath Stadium. [break]
But the second team to qualify for the finals rested on the result of day’s later encounter between Three Star’s and TPC. Had TPC earned victory, it could have secured place in the next round as group winner. But a defeat or draw would eliminate the 2011 champion from the group stage paving the way for Erchim to emerge runner up.
Three Star then paid off Erchim’s favor holding TPC to a draw and finished unbeaten in the competition for league champion of third tire football nations of Asia.
The last time Nepali club crossed the group stage was during 2008 in which Nepal Police Club had made it to the semifinal. Earlier, Three Star had competed in the President’s Cup during the first edition 2005 and booked the semifinal spot. But there was no qualifying stage then which began in 2007.
“We became the first team to cross group stage four years. I want to dedicate this success to all Nepali football fans in and outside of the country,” Three Star coach Pradip Humagain said during the post match conference. “Nepali team has not been able to achieve success in international level for a long time. But the success had energized Nepali football and proved that Nepal can play result oriented football as well.”
In the do-or-die match for TPC, both the teams started with offensive style of play. It was the home team that took early seventh minute lead and was up 2-0 by 15 minutes. Leonce Dodoz, the Ivory Coast forward put Three Star ahead in Prakash Budathoki cross after exchanging a couple of passes with him. Dodoz had an easy work from the six-yard box who capitalized on misunderstanding among TPC defenders and poor judgment of custodian K-C Lu letting the ball go. It was the second goal of Dodoz in the qualifiers.
Budathoki doubled the advantage in the 15th minute who quick-fired custodian K-C Lu rebounder off Adewumi Femi strike leaving him clueless.
In its attempt to bounce back, Y-H Kuo cut the deficit five minutes later for visiting side. Kuo scored with a low ball strike from the left side in cross of C-K Chen set by C-H Lin. TPC’s effort for equalizer was rewarded by in the injury time of first half. K-C Hung made a solo effort beating past Three Star defenders Saroj Dahal and Bishu Sunwar in the danger zone and fired a low ball shot at far post.
“It was a good match and we never gave up. I am proud of the boys, they player very hard but we lost the match,” TPC coach Chen Kuei-Jen said at the post match conference whose side won the title two year ago. “There are many new players, mostly young, in comparison to the team that helped us lift title.”
In the entertaining match, both the teams created nearly half a dozen of chances. Three Star’s Dodoz and Jagjeet Shrestha wasted one chance in the second half. M-C He and Y-W Chen missed opportunities for TPC while P-Y Lin hit upright and Y-W Chen was denied by custodian Kiran Chemjong in one-on-one situation after the interval.
Earlier, substitute Bilguun scored the lone goal for Erchim in its 1-0 win over Ahabani. The 19th minute replacement of Puujee scored the winner in the 59th minute to reignite qualifying hopes of Erchim sending Abahani out of the race. Bilguun collected custodian Sohel rebounder in one-on-one with Chinbaa to make easy score from the six-yard box.
“It was a very tough match for us. We have come up with new tactic analyzing our previous mistakes and it paid,” said Erchim coach D Batnasan. “Now all we can do is to wait for result of next match.”
Meanwhile, Bangladesh assistant coach Amalesh Sen blamed that the Erchim had scored offside goal. “We also missed as many three clear scoring chances,” said Sen.
Related story
Three Star qualifies for the AFC Cup play-off (photo feature)
