Manish Bahadur Karki had fired the home team ahead in the 25th minute but Afghanistan leveled the scores six minutes later as Omid Haider was on target for the visiting side.[break]
Afghanistan added another goal early in the second half and then held on for victory. Afghanistan´s Mohammad scored the second goal in an empty net when Nepal´s goalkeeper Suraj Thapa moved forward to collect the ball after the defenders failed to clear the ball inside the danger zone.
Nepal´s coach Sunil Shrestha said the team lost the match despite making a good start because they were not able to maintain the same form in the second half.
“The first game of the tournament is important for everyone. Unfortunately, we were not able to defend our lead. Afghanistan played better than us in the second half,” said Shrestha.
“We will improve our performance in the next match,” he added.
Nepal´s second game is against Tajikistan on Thursday.
Earlier, in the opening match of the tournament, Tajikistan thrashed Bhutan 5-0 with a hat-trick from Azimov Said Mukhtar. Tajikistan, which took an early lead in the second minute, continued its attack on the hapless Bhutanese side until the final whistle.
The winners of eight different groups will advance into the final rounds of the AFC U-14 Cup to be held in 2014.
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