KATHMANDU, Jan 22: High-flying Nepal will face Bahrain U-23 team in the final of the Bangabandhu Gold Cup football tournament in Bangladesh on Friday. The match will be played at 16:45 NST at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka.
A victory in the final of the international invitational tournament is expected to give a new lease of life to the ailing Nepali football that has been rocked by one after another scandal. All Nepal Football Association's (ANFA) long serving President Ganesh Thapa was banned for 10 years from all football related activities by the FIFA ethics committee. Besides that, five current and former national players including skipper Sagar Thapa were banned for life from football for their involvement in fixing Nepal's international matches since a couple of years.
Moreover, Nepal's national team will also end its long wait for title if it emerges victorious in the final. However, the event is not an official international tournament though a couple of fixtures were recognized as official international matches by FIFA, the world football governing body. Nepal's group stage match against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and semifinal match against the Maldives got official recognition as international matches.
The last time Nepal had won an international title was 23 years ago during the South Asian Games in 1993 when it beat India on penalties.
Nepal has removed the tag of underdog after it registered a convincing 4-1 win over the title favorite Maldives in the semifinal on Tuesday. It was Nepal's win over the Maldives after 17 years.
“We have advanced to the final of an international tournament after 17 years. It is a great achievement. The last time we played the finals of a major tournament was in the South Asian Games in Kathmandu in 1999,” Nepal's head coach Bal Gopal Maharjan was quoted as saying by the official website of ANFA.
Winning the trophy will ease the crisis recently faced by Nepali football.
Nepal, unbeaten in all four matches of the tournament, is also in good form scoring five goals and conceding only one, with three players on scoresheet. Nawayug Shrestha became the first player to score a hat-trick in the ongoing tournament.
“The victory we achieved over the Maldives has motivated the entire squad. If we will be able to put up the same kind of performance we did against the Maldives, the victory will surely be ours. Also, we don't have any injury concerns. I am confident that the boys will put up a spirited performance,” added Maharjan.
Maharjan added that his side will play technical game against physically stronger Bahrain team.
Bahrain U-23 secured its final spot beating host Bangladesh 1-0 in the semifinal.
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