KATHMANDU, Nov 16: All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) has removed four national football players from the squad.
Bimal Gharti Magar, Anjan Bista, Dinesh Rajbanshi and Santosh Tamang have been excluded from the team.
According to the ANFA, they have been penalized under disciplinary action. They had returned to the closed camp the late night on Friday after spending some time at a lounge bar in Thamel.
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ANFA is preparing to take stern action against them after the World Cup Qualifier match against Kuwait. “Chairperson Karma Chhiring Sherpa is not in Nepal, therefore we will take necessary decisions once he returns home,” informed ANFA Spokesperson Kiran Rai.
After their removal from the team, a 20-member squad flew to Bhutan to play against Kuwait. Subash Gurung has been added to the team.
Of four excluded players, Anjan had scored the goal against Chines Taipei which is the single victory of Nepal in the qualifiers round in the group.
Earlier on Saturday afternoon, ANFA bade farewell to Nepal national football team travelling to Thimpu, Bhutan for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023 home match against Kuwait. The match will be played at Changlimithang Stadium on November 19.
After having played all four away games, Nepal is hosting Kuwait in Bhutan as the home match. Earlier, Asian Football Confederation (AFC) rejected Dasharath Stadium in Kathmandu as the home venue citing it didn't meet the international standards to host such big football tournaments.
Nepal is currently in the fourth position in Group B with three points from four games. Australia leads the table with nine points from three games, Jordan and Kuwait, both playing three games each, have seven and four points respectively. Chinese Taipei, only opponent Nepal has defeated, has no points thus far.
