Gharti Magar opened the scoring in the second minute of first-half injury time, doubled the tally in the 51st minute and completed his hat-trick in the 80th to guide Nepal to the finals of the age-group tournament after seven years. Dinesh Rajbanshi scored Nepal´s third goal in the 75th minute. In 2000 and 2006 also, Nepal had qualified for the finals of the competition from the qualifiers held on home ground. [break]
Gharti Magar took his tally to four goals with Sunday´s hat-trick to finish as the top scorer of the Group C qualifiers. He was also the highest scorer of the SAFF U-16 Championship, held about a month ago, with five goals.
Nepal was in a must-win situation to qualify for the finals to be held next year in Thailand after Bahrain defeated Iraq, dubbed the strongest team in the group, 2-1 in the day´s first match.
After the victory in its last group match, Nepal finished on top with seven points, one point ahead of runner-up Bahrain. Iraq collected four points to take third position while bottom-placed Turkmenistan returned home without opening its account.
In the one-sided affair, Nepal looked technically sound and dominated the match from start to finish, playing attractive football with numerous beautiful passes. However, the host had to wait until the injury time of the first half to break the deadlock despite creating as many as four attempts on goal.
Nepal was finally rewarded when skipper Gharti Magar, left unmarked in the six-yard box, headed home in a spectacular cross from Amit Tamang just before the break.
Gharti Magar doubled the tally six minutes after the restart with a scorcher from close range that custodian Berdiyev failed to stop despite getting his hands on the ball. Gharti Magar collected the ball after Muhammedov failed to clear a cross from Gaurab Budhathoki, a 27th minute replacement for Bikash Thapa, before firing home.
Turkmenistan custodian Berdiyev gifted the third goal to Nepal as he dropped Dinesh Rajbanshi´s cross and let the ball roll toward the net. Gharti Magar sealed victory in the 86th with a cool finish. He took his time before unleashing a well-placed low shot from close range after being set up by Rajbanshi.
Besides scoring, Nepal also made nearly half-a-dozen attempts on goal while Turkmenistan tested the Nepali goalkeeper only once on either side of the break.
In the fifth minute, Bikash Thapa´s header hit the woodwork and Anjan Bista´s shot skied above the bar in the 17th. In the 35th, Berdiyev made a diving save to deny Anil Rai´s 25-yard scorcher. Three minutes later Berdiyev prevented Bista´s header. In the 88th, the custodian stopped a powerful strike from Shiva Subedi, who also hit the bar in the fading moments.
Turkmenistan´s first chance came in the 24th, but Akymrat fired inches wide from the area. Ibragimov´s strike in the 86th was denied by Nepal´s custodian Roman Rasaili.
In the first match, Md Marhoon and MD Alshamsi struck early for Bahrain to pile pressure on Iraq, which also faced a must-win situation.
Marhoon scored the opener in the ninth minute and Alshamsi doubled the advantage in the 14th. Md Araeer netted the only goal for Iraq in the 40th minute.
Group C final points table
Teams P W D L GF GA Pts
Nepal 3 2 1 0 8 2 7
Bahrain 3 2 0 1 5 4 6
Iraq 3 1 1 1 11 5 4
Turkmenistan 3 0 0 3 2 15 0
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