Nepal defeated but not dejected

 Nepal showed great fight against Bangladesh in the final of the SAFF Women’s Football Championship, but ultimately the Bengal Tigresses were just a little better than the Nepalis at in Kathmandu on Wednesday evening.  

 Following the chaotic semi-final victory three days previously against India, where play was halted for more than an hour as fans and players protested repeated refereeing mistakes, Nepal wanted to see its women’s team to carry on the momentum against Bangladesh, even though it had beaten Nepal  twice before.   

All tickets for the game were to be sold physically in three locations and thousands were already lining up at 4 am. Ticket sales started at 8 am, and were already sold out in two hours.  

As the two national anthems rang throughout the Rangasala, the Nepali women lined up in a blue kits against the Bangladeshi team in jerseys that had a red-to-green gradient. Prime Minister KP Oli was in attendance and would hand out trophies, medals and awards at the end of the game.

There was intense support from the home crowd on a pitch that looked quite good, in contrast to the state it was in during the monsoon when Japanese Veteran, ex-AC Milan Keisuke Honda, who was playing for Bhutan team Paro FC, called it the worst footballing pitch he had ever seen.

Bangladesh had a higher level of quality throughout its squad, and this shone through as they dominated the opening ten minutes with accurate passes through the midfield. Nepal was playing a defensive, counter attacking strategy, with nine outfield players behind the ball and ‘Samba’ Bhandari playing as a lone forward.

Nepal’s plan for the game was to be solid at the back and then hoof it forward to Samba, and hope that she could come up with a moment of magic. 

She almost did in the 10th minute, rattling a shot against the crossbar. Her play was excellent throughout: she held up the ball, hardly lost it, and sprayed accurate passes to her teammates. Unfortunately due to the style Nepal was playing, she often seemed to not get enough support and lacked options to continue play. 

Nepal grew into the game as the first half carried on and 19-year old midfielder Preeti Rai stood out in midfield. Rai seemed to understand exactly what to do in order to not lose the ball, through finding the correct pass or through taking an intelligent touch to get away momentarily from a Bangla defender trying to win the ball back.

Although both teams had a number of chances, neither had scored when they went in for halftime. Nepal was holding its own against a difficult opponent, who had trounced Bhutan 7-1 in the championship’s other semi-final.  

While Samba provided a threatening presence up top and Rai calmed things down in midfield, Nepal’s defense was looking worrying. The backs  seemed nervous and were often unable to properly deal with Bangladeshi attacks.   

Sure enough, seven minutes into the second half defensive confusion caused the football to pinball around the Nepali penalty area before falling to Bangladesh midfielder Monika Chakma who calmly scored against Nepali keeper and captain Anjila Tumbapo Subba.

 Subba may have had a better chance if she had dived at Chakma’s feet, but she slid in like a defender towards the ball and Nepal found itself  one goal behind.  

But just four minutes later, Preeti Rai threaded a through ball through three Bangla defenders. Forward Amisha Karki ran onto the pass and had plenty of time to ready herself before finishing past the goalkeeper. 

Just like after the restart in the semifinal against India, Nepal acted quickly to get themselves back in the game. The stadium had only been in panic mode for a short while and was now back loud and supporting the Nepali team.  

Video panned to an employee of the seemingly ubiquitous and monopolistic Garud Security, enjoying the action, wearing a high visibility neon vest with ‘Karate Black Belt’ emblazoned on the back. Besides the approximately 20,000 strong Rangasala audience, there were a record one million concurrent viewers to the livestream of the match on YouTube.

The game grew more open as both teams looked for a winner. There were chances for both: Bangladesh midfielder shot well from distance in the 67th minute, but keeper Subba was able to catch the ball.

Then in the 72st minute Samba ran onto a lofted through pass and was almost through on goal. She opened her body up and shot for the far corner of the Bangla goal, but the angle was against her and the ball rolled across.

In the 81st minute, following several scary scrambles in the Nepali defense, Ritu Chakma found herself on the ball on the left flank for Bangladesh. Chakma unleashed a wicked cross into the Nepali box with her left foot. It swerved and dipped, wrong-footing Subba, who was still able to get a hand to the ball but was unable to keep it from entering the net. The crowd was stunned.

Nepal had not gotten a clear cut chance after equalizing, and now had only three minutes to find another goal to send the final to penalties. 

 Despite their efforts and several substitutions, Nepal could not find a way back again. The Bangladesh team were overjoyed at the final whistle, and took laps around the field and celebrated near a group of Bangla supporters. An exhausted, disappointed Nepali team fell to the ground, having lost another final.

The Nepali players should be proud of the performance they put in throughout the tournament and especially in the semis and the final. They pushed a much better Bangla team right to the limit. What was most evident was the gulf in quality between Samba and Preeti Rai and everyone else in the Nepali team: while Samba and Rai almost always displayed correct play, the rest of the squad made mistakes at crucial times.

The home crowd showed out to support Nepal’s female athletes, taking matters into their own hands to protest inept, helpless officiating. They didn’t repeat this behavior when we were beaten fair and square in the final, which would have diminished the protests in the game against India.

An excellent drone shot at the end of the match showed the floodlit Rangasala and a gridlocked Tripuresqor roundabout as Nepalis streamed out of the stadium: disappointed, but not dejected.