The national champion, who still has a match in hand, was defeated by Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) of Pakistan with identical score in the first match two days ago.[break]
In another match at the Halchowk Ground, Taiwan Power Company (TPC) of Chinese Taipei eased past WAPDA 3-0.
After two rounds, TPC and Balkan are atop the league table with four points each. TPC enjoys the top spot on the basis of number of goals scored. WAPDA is in third position with three points and still has a chance to qualify. Police, with no points, is at the bottom of the table.
At the Dasharath Satdium, Anton Kucherenkov and Nurgylych Diwanov scored in either half to seal the victory for visitors. Kucherenkov put the visitors ahead four minutes before interval when he scored off a rebounder of goalie Ritesh Thapa, who had denied a one-on-one chance to Batyrov Gurbangeldi. Unmarked Diwanov doubled the lead seven minutes after the interval when he received a long pass and took his time before calmly beating goalie Thapa.
Police put up a comparatively better show during the initial moments of the match and also created a few attractive moves. But they repeated their problem in finishing. Police coach Birat Krishna Shrestha said that the standard of his side has been gradually diminishing. He pointed out the weakness in utilizing chances and unpacked center defense as the cause of the defeat. The physically stronger Balkan came up with long passes and set the pace during the latter part of the first half.
Police striker Jumanu Rai squandered a couple of scoring chances against Balkan to stretch his failure in scoring in international outings to 10 matches -- including five matches for national team. He had not scored since 2009 President´s Cup. Nepal Police´s best opportunity came just before the half-time whistle when Rai failed to beat goalkeeper after receiving a pass from Bhola Silwal. Bharat Khawas also missed a scoring chance when he was denied in one-on-one contest by goalie Nikita Gorbunov shortly after the interval.
Rai was unlucky in 76th minute when his strike from box after beating goalie Gorbunov was defended by Garahanov Geldimyrat.
Balkan coach thanked his players for the victory and said the match against home team was a tough one. At the Halchowk ground, KK Pan (42), YW Chen (55) and MC Hee (65) struck one each in 42nd, 55th and 65th minute respectively for TPC to register an easy 3-0 win over WAPDA.
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