DHARAN, Dec 30: The men's football final at the Seventh National Games is set to be an all-departmental final affair after Tribhuvan Army Club joined Armed Police Force (APF) in the final after registering a 7-6 sudden death win over Central Region on Thursday. APF has already reached the final overcoming the challenge of Nepal Police Club 2-0 on Wednesday.
The second semifinal clash between Army and Central Region was also played on Wednesday at ANFA Technical Center, Dharan but the game was pushed to penalty shootout after both sides failed to score in 120 minutes.
Army and Lumbini to vie for U-18 football title
But after the Army players raised objection to take part in the penalty shootout pointing out to bad light, the match was postponed for Thursday.
Earlier, the penalty shootout between the two teams also failed to decide the winner as four each players from both sides converted the penalties while other two players failed to score. Jitendra Karki, Dipak Gurung, Suman Aryal and Bikesh Kuthu successfully converted penalties for Army while national team striker Nawayug Shrestha's shot was saved by Central Region's goalie Dipesh Yadav. Similarly, Sanjiv Karki, Kuldip Karki, Santosh Singh and Aditya Shakya scored for Central Region while Yarik Bista hit the woodwork. In the sudden death, Army's Dip Lama, Padam Tamang and Raju Tamang all converted their shots while Dipesh Henjen and Nir Bahadur Ale converted their shots for Central Region, but Jit Bahadur Magar couldn't direct the ball into the net.
The final clash between the two departmental sides - APF, Army - will be played in ANFA Technical Center on Friday.
Police wins bronze
Nepal Police Club has grabbed bronze medal in men's football event at the Seventh National Games defeating Central Region 4-3 in the third place play-off on Thursday. Central Region was beaten by Tribhuvan Army Club on sudden death on the same day.
In the match played in ANFA Technical Centre, Tirtha Rana Magar scored a brace for Police while Bhola Silwal scored one goal and it got another goal as gift from Central Region. Bhola scored in the 13th minute for Police while Tirtha added other two goals in the 23rd and 64th minutes. Kuldip Karki of Central Region gifted a goal to Police in the stoppage time of second half. Similarly, Tanka notched goals for Central Region in the 50th and 84th minutes respectively while Shyam Babu scored in the 63rd minute.
