The Nepali women's national football team gave the home audience – both at home and across the world – a brilliant piece of gift: the young and spirited women stormed into the final of the SAFF Women's Championship by beating their arch rival India 4-2 on penalties in a tense semifinal. While the first half ended in a draw, the second half saw a high voltage display of play, passion, grit and go-getter spirit of the young professional footballers. In the 50th minute, Nepal were down to 10 players as the referee gave the marching order to Nepal's star forward Rekha Paudel after an altercation over what the referee mistakenly believed was a foul committed by the player. And, tension started building up right there. Despite a competitive start to the game between the two title contenders at the Dasharath Stadium, the match took an ugly turn after the assistant referee Choden Chhiring allegedly misjudged Paudel of having committed a foul and the main referee Om Choki seconded the decision by giving her a yellow card. The incident enraged the Nepali player and she got into an argument with the referee. Paudel was given a second yellow and had to leave the field.
The home crowd shared Paudel's sense of injustice and got agitated. Was the first incident an error of judgment on part of the referee and a second yellow within moments following Paudel's questioning of the referee’s decision an over-reaction from the referee? For now, we would like to leave sports journalists to dig deeper, match officials to introspect and the governing body to look seriously into the matter. The facts should come out. The sooner, the better. The incident provoked an angry reaction from the thousands of home crowd and they started chanting slogans against what they perceived as an unfair decision of the referee. While the audience's display of anger and frustration is not an ideal thing to come by, let's face it, the crowd behavior just defies rhymes or rhythms. The game was interrupted by 13 minutes or so. As the game resumed, India dealt a massive blow to the hosts, Nepal, when Sangeeta Basfore scored in the 62nd minute. Even worse, the home side – apparently more in a hurry and under tremendous pressure for an equalizer – started the game from the centerline before the referee blew the whistle and scored. The referee disallowed that goal, much to the chagrin of the players, the home crowd and supporters far and wide.
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But then, Nepal’s prolific striker Sabitra Bhandari came to the rescue, by scoring an equalizer in the 66th minute bringing the match back to life. The Nepali international, who plays in the French women's first division league, brought her own flair and injected a fresh lease of life into the Nepali team. The rest, as they say, is history. After the regular time of the controversial match ended in a 1-1 draw at the Dasharath Stadium, the match was decided through a penalty shootout. While India’s captain Asha Lata Devi hit the post with the very first spot kick, Nepal’s substitute goalkeeper Anjana Rana Magar blocked another Indian player Ranjana Chanu, clearly giving Nepal an edge over their fiercest rivals. While Manisha and Purushottam Shirovkar of India converted their spot kicks for the visitors, all four Nepali players who took the penalties – Sabitra Bhandari, Gita Rana, Sabita Rana Magar and Amisha Karki – scored, securing Nepal a 4-2 win. With the hard-fought victory, Nepal has set a date with defending champions Bangladesh in the final scheduled for Wednesday, October 30.
The victory is certainly not one-off and should be seen in the context of a series of feats that the Nepali women have secured in recent times. Four years ago, the women’s football team of Nepal fetched silver at the women's football event in the South Asian Games in Pokhara as they were beaten by the same country - India. The fierce rivalry between Nepal and India in women’s football dates back to the very first edition of SAFF Women’s Championship in 2010 when India defeated Nepal in the final. Fast forward to the seventh edition, Nepal defeated its arch rival, India, thanks to Sabitra for the much-needed goal. Thanks to the substitute goalkeeper Anjana for her heroics and thanks to the entire team for the victory. Last but not the least, we would like to extend our heartiest congratulations and best wishes for that last mile.
