KATHMANDU, Sept 21: Nepal suffered 1-0 defeat at the hands of Iraq in the AFC U-16 Championship 2018 Qualifiers on Wednesday. 

Salah Ghazi Talib’s goal in the 69th minute was enough for defending champion Iraq to snatch full three points from the Group D match played at Halchowk Stadium in Kathmandu. 

After Nepali goalkeeper Bishal Sunar fumbled the ball in the 18-yard, following a long-range charge from the Iraqi team, second-half substitute Talib cleverly utilized the situation by directing the ball towards Nepal’s empty net. 

Nepali head coach Sunil Kumar Shrestha pointed out the errors made by the goalkeeper and the defense as the main reason behind Nepal’s defeat. 

“A single blunder by defenders and goalkeeper can cost the game, today’s result was exactly like that,” said head coach Shrestha. 

Nepal played in its own half for most of the time in the first-half. Iraq dominated the possession and created many chances but due to poor movement of the forward line, it couldn’t produce any goal in the first 45 minutes. 

Nepal missed a glorious opportunity to equalize in the 72nd minute when striker Ranjan Pun was disposed in the danger zone by Iraqi defender Ahmed Ali Albu-Daraj.   

Iraq increased the pressure in the last 20 minutes of the match and kept Nepali goalie Sunar busy with several attacks. Second-half substitute striker Ahmed Abdullah Dari Gul had some opportunities to shoot from close range but Sunar made decent saves in order to prevent Iraq from adding goals.  

Nepali head coach Shrestha said that he was satisfied with the overall performance of his players apart from the one defensive blunder.  “Our players tried hard, they played as per the plan. Our plan was to maintain the defense and hit the opponent in counter attack,” said Shrestha: “Iraq is the defending champion and many had thought that we would concede more goals but we didn’t let them attack easily.” 

 Shrestha also said that he would change the tactics against India in Nepal’s second match scheduled for Friday. \“Now the match against India is do-or-die for us, we will need to gather full three points to keep the qualification hope alive. So we will play with different strategy focusing on attack,” he said.

Meanwhile Iraqi head coach Ali Hadi Moshin praised Nepal’s performance. “Nepal defended very well and made us fight for the three points. This win will boost the confidence of our players for upcoming matches against Palestine and India,” said Hadi.   

INDIA 3-0 PALESTINE
Meanwhile India has made a winning start in the qualifiers recording 3-0 win over Palestine. 
In the first match of the day which was also played at Halchowk Stadium, Givson Singh Moirangthem, Bekey Oram and skipper Vikram Pratap scored one goal each for the Indian team. With a comfortable win over Palestine, India is now at the top of the group with superior goal difference to Iraq. 

After guiding his team to an opening victory in the qualifiers, Indian head coach Bibiano Fernandes said that his team was the deserving winner.  “Our boys deserved the victory for the way they performed today. Although it was difficult for us to unlock the Palestinian defense in the first-half, we produced enough goals in the rest 45 minutes,” said Fernandes. 

He also said that the match against Nepal on Friday would be different than the one played in SAFF U-15 Championship. 

“Although we had defeated Nepal in SAFF a month earlier, the upcoming clash is going to be different. Past wins mean nothing at the moment. We will have to work very hard against the home team,” added Fernandes who had made India SAFF U-15 Championship winner by beating Nepal in the final last month. 

 
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