Nepal´s march toward victory ended in draw after Malaysian referee Nagor Aamir awarded penalty to Pakistan two minutes into second half and Samr Ishaq converted the spotkick to cancel Bharat Khawa´s 37th minute lead. Nepal´s goalie Kiran Chemjong was unable to prevent the goal despite getting hands on it. Pakistan was awarded with the penalty after defender Sandip Rai brought down Kaleem Ullah in the box. [break]
Earlier, midfielder Khawas had put Nepal in charge in the 37th minute through his trademark shot which turned to be his fourth international goal. The 20-year old player of Nepal Police Club quickly made a powerful attempt out of mess from box in a corner of Raju Tamang leaving Pakistani goalie Jafar Khan helpless.
"As soon as I got the ball I was optimistic that I could score it. It was an open chance and the delivery by Babu Dai (Raju Tamang) was an excellent copy of what we had learnt during training session. I did not make any delay to strike it and saw the ball rolling at the back of the net," man-of-the-match Khawas told Republica over telephonic conversation, adding, "I am very happy to score and would like to thank the entire team for this."
Khawas who has won 14 caps for the national side had last time scored against Jordan during World Cup Qualifiers at the Dasharath Stadium on July 29. Before that, Khawas had scored in Nepal´s 1-0 win over Afghanistan on April. Khawas had coincidentally achieved his first international goal against Pakistan in 2007 during an international friendly in Pokhara.
Despite having equal five points as that of group topper Maldives, Nepal finished runner-up on the basis of goal inferiority. Nepal has scored three goals and conceded two while Maldives has scored four and conceded two goals.
The result also secured Nepal´s place for the semifinal since 1999 Goa SAFF Championship. Nepal will now meet the winner of group A in the semifinal to be played on Friday which consists of host India, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Bhutan. Bhutan has already crashed out from the semifinal race.
Nepal´s British coach Graham Roberts has expressed happiness toward the results and termed the match comfortable. "We dominated the match and ball possession from the beginning. We had created many opportunities. It was bad luck to see Sandip Rai´s freekick rebound from the pole," Roberts said.
Roberts has also vowed to put up the best performance in semifinal and secure a place in the final. "We are not going to give up. We will fight in the semifinal and make it to the final whoever may be the opponent," Roberts said.
In its previous group matches, Nepal had defeated Bangladesh 1-0 on Sunday and played 1-1 stalemate against the Maldives in its opening match on Friday.
On Tuesday, Nepal came up in offensive style and dominated the show from the very beginning. Nepal´s dominance however, could remain only until first half as the second half looked much balanced with Pakistani side making some post attacks.
Nepal´s striking pair of Santosh Sahukhala and Jumanu Rai though failed to utilize more than a couple of scoring chance each but kept Pakistan custodian Khan busy throughout the match. Rai was replaced by Anil Gurung in the stoppage time of second half.
Nepal´s first impressive attack on post came in the 25th minute when Raju Tamang´s powerful shot from 25-yard was taken by Pakistani custodian Khan.
Similarly, Nepal was unlucky to see Sandip Rai´s 30-yard freekick rebound from the pole one minute from time.
In the 31st minute, Hasnain Abbas long range shot was taken by Nepal´s custodian Kiran Chemjong. Pakistani player´s numerous chances were denied by Nepal´s stubborn defense line up consisting of Biraj Maharjan, Sandip Rai, Rohit Chand, Rabin Shrestha and skipper Thapa. Shrestha was replaced by Bikash Singh Chhetri in the 64th minute.
´No serious injury to Shrestha´
Nepal´s starting line up defender Rabin Shrestha sustained head and chest injury during SAFF Championship match against Pakistan and was rushed to a nearby hospital. Shrestha picked up the injury in the 64th after he collided with Pakistani player Muhamad and become unconscious. He was promptly rushed to hospital. According to Nepal´s captain Sagar Thapa, the initial health check up and findings of CT scan shows no serious injury to Shrestha. "Shrestha need to stay in hospital for one more day,” said Thapa.
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