Babal Arezo scored the all important goal for Afghanistan in the 11th minute of extra time following a goalless draw in the regulation 90 minute. [break]
Arezo, who plays professional football in Norway, made a clean finishing in counter-attack sprinting long way and then beating diving Nepali goalie Kiran Chemjong to fix his side’s meeting with host India for the title clash.
Arezo jointly leads the highest scorer chart with six goals along with Indian star striker Sunil Chhetri.
Earlier, in the first semifinal host India inspired by striker Sunil Chhetri had defeated Maldives 3-1. Chhetri had netted twice after Syed Rahim Nabi had opened the scoring for host. Shamweel Qasim hit the only goal for Maldives. The final will be held on Monday.
The result also turned to be Nepal’s first defeat at the hands of Afghanistan. Nepal was never defeated by Afghanistan in their last four encounters.
Nepal’s striker Jumanu Rai and Anil Gurung, a replacement of Santosh Sahukhala, squandered a couple of scoring chances each during the later stage of second half.
“Lack of good strikers is the major problem of Nepali team. We don’t have good strikers and we came under pressure in the second half and extra-time,” said Graham Roberts, the Nepal coach in the post match conference. “We conceded goals due to silly mistakes of two defenders,” he added.
“If you don’t utilize your chances then you have to suffer. We got frequent chances in the opening 20 minutes. If you don’t score, you are under pressure,” said Roberts.
Roberts also opined that overall Nepal put up a good show and blamed bad luck for crashing out of the tournament.
On Friday, Nepal had started the match on an exciting note making a couple of impressive attacks during the initial 20 minutes of the match and dominating the ball possession. But Afghanistan slowly gained the momentum during the later stage of the first half and remaining time of the match making the match a fairly competitive.
Santosh Sahukhala’s powerful shot in the 16th minute in Raju Tamang’s corner kick was denied by Afghanistan goalie.
Two minutes later Bhola Silwal’s shot went inches wide from the post.
Afghanistan’s first impressive attack at the Nepali post came in the 36th minute, but goalie Chemjong denied Arezo in one-on-one position. Afghanistan had nearly taken lead during the stoppage time of first half when Azero’s bouncing header rebounded hitting the bar in a free kick taken by Haroon Fakrudin.
Afghanistan dominated ball possessions in the second half and made a couple of attacks at the post but failed to achieve the target. Striker Anil Gurung failed to beat Afghan goalie as the only obstacle on his way.
Nepal’s defender Biraj Maharjan was sent off during the fading moments of extra time after he fouled an Afghani player near danger area.
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