2011 in retrospect: Was it a good or bad year for Nepali football ?

The   recently   concluded   9^th edition of the South Asian Federation   Football   Championship in New Delhi, India   was Nepal’s   last international outing of 2011.

2011 in retrospect, was   this   a   good or bad year for Nepali football?   Whether   you agree or not, it was an unproductive, frustrating and ordinary year.  I wish it was just the opposite.

Speaking of international engagements, the national team   had   a   busy   schedule year around. They participated   in   three   major   tournaments   and achieved some degree of success.

Also   the team   undertook   a   four- nation Asian tour as part of preparation for the SAFF Championship. British coach Graham Roberts   who took over the national team in   January 2011 had mixed results and faces big challenges ahead.

The 2014 World Cup Qualifiers to start with. Of the four matches three took place in Nepal, and   our first round   double header kicked off against lowly East Timor. We chalked   up   two contrasting wins, a far from convincing 2-1, followed by a somewhat   easy 5 -0.

The second round   encounter against a formidable   Jordan    was   the real big deal. One wondered what kind of impact Coach Roberts boys would make? Also All Nepal Football Association’s (ANFA) indecisiveness to hold the home match was unwarranted.

The end result was uninspiring   and   confirmed the fact that we have still miles to go .I anticipated a spirited   fight, but I never   in my wildest   imagined that we would get a 0-9 drubbing in the away match.  

Although   the boys made some amends by playing   a respectable 1-1 at home the damage was too big to fix.  Clearly   we struggled   against a better trained, prepared and technically sound opposition.  

Home fans had plenty to cheer about in the   1^st round of 2012 AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers held in Kathmandu. The   host played with much improved performance to finish second in the group consisting of North Korea, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.

The Koreans had a number of World Cup players in their ranks and expectedly topped the group by winning all their matches. Against the fancied opposition we did a pretty good job to restrict them to a single goal.

A   victory   and draw against Afghanistan and Sri Lanka respectively   ensured   us a place in the second round.   By and large, the team performed reasonably well but could have done a lot better.  

SAFF Championship was   a litmus test   for the national team. 

Coach Roberts   did what no other coach has done in recent memory.   ANFA yielded to his demand for a foreign trip with the sole purpose to give players the much needed international exposure.

This was a tune up for the SAFF Championship. Originally a four nation Asian tour, however, the trip to Thailand was called off because of serious flood situation there.   Our   solitary victory came against Cambodia, but   our mediocre showing in Philippines and Malaysia raised many eyebrows and questions.  

In a display   of   aggressive and organized football the boys lit the SAAF Championship on fire. The youthful team studded with promising players was able to win hearts and minds of fans and football critics alike.

After waiting in the wings for twelve years, we advanced to the   last four before we fell to a recharged and   resurgent   Afghanistan. Over all, it was a tidy performance; however, we failed to sign off on a winning note, largely because of our offensive ineffectiveness, which is a   big concern.

This is one grey area Coach Roberts has to deal with prior to the second round of AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers scheduled in Kathmandu in 2012.

The 1st SAFF U-16 Championship held in Kathmandu did not go down well for us. The third place finish was a setback considering the fact that we have been quite dominant in both junior and youth level of the game   for a good period of time.

On the domestic front, Nepal’s premier club Nepal   Police reclaimed the Martyr’s Memorial A Division League title. For coach Birat Krishna Shrestha it was an accomplishment of sort, especially after his team struggled throughout the 2010 and 2011 seasons in which they were sans a tournament win.

Speaking of the league, it was ill- managed, ground conditions were undesirable and controversies were aplenty. I seriously doubt the league served its purpose.

Koilapani became the first team from outside the Valley to participate in the league’s history.

On the bright side, popularity of football continued to climb in the country. There was no scarcity of tournaments, and it was inspiring to see clubs recruit foreign players.

Hard to believe that  eighteen  long years  have  gone by  since our famous   gold winning performance  at the 1993 South Asian  Federation Games in Bangladesh. Sadly   we have not acted to redeem ourselves since then.

Instead   we   are   still   teetering   on that slippery slope.  Apparently,   a   sense of anger, frustration and despair overwhelms us. There is plenty of blame to go round; however, ANFA deserves the most blame.

Although there have been a few positive changes, the game remains in a sorry state.   What astonishes me more than anything is ANFA’s   failure to develop and regulate the game at all levels, even on a modest scale.

That said,   I   look forward to 2012 with optimism, and I hope the New Year usher a new dawn of success   for Nepali football and footballers.