Twin goals from Anjan Bista and a goal from Sunil Bal helped secure Nepal's place in the final in a match played under scorching heat. Defender Ananta Tamang netted an own goal and Mehdi Rezayee added another for Afghanistan in the evenly contested affair.Nepal, which fielded three forwards and four defenders, adopted an attacking style of play against the physically superior opponent and opened the account in the 34th minute. Anjan headed home a corner taken by Sunil leaving the second choice Afghani goalie Murtaza Chakar Zayee clueless. He doubled the advantage five minutes later through spotkick earned by Bishwas as Nepal went into break with 2-0 lead. Nepal was awarded the spotkick after Mortaza Rezahi handed Bishwas's strike inside the danger zone.
Afghanistan cut the deficit five minutes into the second half with an own goal from defender Ananta. His clearance from the danger took the direction of post.
Sunil restored Nepal's two goal parity in the 52nd minute with a curling freekick from the edge of the zone. Afghanistan. Afghanistan again cut the gap in the 72nd minute after Mehdi collected pass from Suliman Shah and beat two defenders to make the score 2-3.
Nepal dominated the ball possession since the beginning and came closer to scoring in the 20th minute. Afghani goalie Murtaza punched Bishwas Shrestha strike to safety. Three minutes earlier, Yar Mohammad Zakar Khel shot wide in a counter attack while Suliman Shah Khorami beat two Nepali defenders but ended up in similar fashion in the 23rd.
Nepal's Skipper Bimal Gharti Magar failed to live up to expectations. Bimal, who had netted hat-trick against Bhutan in the opening match, failed to take control of the ball on numerous occasion.
"I failed to play the game like I did against Bhutan due to humidity of the ground," said Bimal.
During the post-match conference, Nepal's coach Bal Gopal Maharjan said that his side came under pressure after conceding second goal. He said that the team was ready to play in the final and lift the champions' trophy.
"We are ready to take on any opponent in the final, however, we have to improved the game in the title clash," said Maharjan, adding that his side played according to the plan and strategy against Afghanistan. "Our strikers did a good job today," he said.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan Coach Hayatullah Logarwal complained that referees did injustice against his side in the match. "Referees were making the job easy for Nepal and they committed numbers of mistakes and the ball boys were deliberately wasting time," he complained.
Still, he termed Nepal as one of the best teams of South Asia. Meanwhile, South Asian powerhouse India beat Bangladesh 4-3 on penalty shoot-out as both the teams played goalless draw in the regular 90 minutes and 30 minutes of added time.
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Photos: Bijay Gajmer
