DHARAN, Dec 29: Armed Police Force (APF) has progressed to the men’s football final at the Seventh National Games registering extra time 2-0 victory over Nepal Police Club on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the second semifinal clash between Tribhuvan Army Club and Central Region remained undecided after it was postponed for Thursday due to bad light.
APF, Army to vie for gold in men's football
Earlier, the first semifinal match between APF and Police was pushed to extra 30 minutes after both sides failed to produce goals in the regular 90 minutes. But two goals in the extra time from Yubraj Khadka and Nabin Lama helped APF secure victory over departmental rival Police.
Yubraj gave lead to APF in the 10th minute of extra time as he scored a beautiful goal utilizing a cross from Raj Kumar Kumal. APF extended its lead in the 29th minute of extra time with the help of Nabin Lama’s goal. Man-of-the-match Raj Kumar was the architect for the second goal as well, as he created pass for Nabin in the penalty box.
Earlier, the match between the two departmental sides was very competitive as both teams created numerous goal scoring chances in the regular 90 minutes. Police missed the chance to produce early lead in the game when Bharat Shah’s close range shot was saved by APF’s goalkeeper Amrit Chaudhary in the 12th minute. APF also missed an opportunity to score first half goal as Hari Karki failed to utilize a free header in the 17th minute. Another notable missed chance of Police came in the 8th minute of extra time when Nir Kumar Rai couldn’t score in a one versus one situation against APF goalie Amit.
In the meantime, the postponed match between Army and Central Region also was pushed to extra time. However, both teams failed to score in the last 30 minutes as the referee decided to go for penalty shootout. But after the Army players raised objection to take part in the penalty shootout pointing out to bad light, the match was postponed for the next day. Both teams will take part in the penalty shootout on Thursday.
The loser from the second semifinal match will take on Police for the third place play-off on the same day.
