No end to Nepal’s misery in World Cup football qualifiers

 

The latest setback for the men’s national football team of Nepal in the 2026 World Cup and 2027 Asia Cup qualifiers in Dammam,Saudi Arabia was not a surprise.

Nepal went down meekly to formidable United Arab Emirates  0-4 for the second time in the group  match. 

It may be recalled that  in the first meeting between the two sides, the Middle East powerhouse triumphed by an identical score.

As a matter of fact, taking into account Nepal’s  recent string of poor results and performance  slump, defeat was inevitable and a foregone conclusion.

As expected the heavily favored United Arab Emirates(UAE) effortlessly prevailed over  listless and subdued Nepal. 

They dictated  terms and dominated the proceedings,toying with the opposition  throughout the entire match. 

They played a well coordinated,fast paced and pressing game to control exchanges and the match from start to finish.

Making  the most of  the shaky and porous defense,they made scoring look easy as they found the net at regular intervals.

Apart from struggling,Nepal got overwhelmed by the physical, technical and tactical superiority of  the  opposition.

Then,to add to the misery,the offense was lackluster and  largely a spent force.They failed to launch a single goal-scoring opportunity throughout.

There was little coordination between the offense and midfield.They were unable to hold on to the ball for long,losing the possession easily.

The defeat had no bearing on Nepal because  they had already exited from the qualifiers with four straight defeats prior to the match.

 

They take on Yemen  in  their  last group match on June 11th in Dammam, Saudi Arabia.  

In their home match Nepal had lost to Yemen 0-2 as well.They have another chance to redeem themselves. Whether they can end the qualifiers on a positive note,time will tell.

What is true is  that they  will need a vastly improved and well coordinated performance to succeed.They have to be resilient, stay in the game and not lose themselves.More importantly,they have to perform to the best of their ability.

The competition has been an absolute disaster for Nepal in terms of  results and performances.They are winless and last in the group.They have conceded a total  of  18 goals and  scored zero so far.It tells the whole story.

Whether they can end the goal drought against Yemen,we have to wait and see. I am keeping my fingers crossed that they score.

The decline of Nepal football is obvious.The absence of  a professional framework,robust  infrastructure and facilities,coupled  with poor grassroots football development,lack of investment, misgovernance and mismanagement on the part of All Nepal Football Association(ANFA) continues to 

hurt and  stagnant football development.

There will be no end to the sorry plight  of Nepal football, frustration,disappointment and setbacks if  football  continues to head in the wrong direction. 

I feel sorry for players who have  sacrificed their career and dedicated everything to football are  victims of the system run by incompetent and unprofessional officials.