KATHMANDU, May 5: Nepal Police Club, the national league champion of Nepal, had a disappointing start during the group stage of AFC President´s Cup on Saturday as it was humiliated 5-1 by Kyrgyzstan champion Dordoi at the National Olympic Stadium, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Saturday.
Murazev Mirlan starred for Dordoi with a hat-trick over the departmental team of Nepal which conceded three goals within initial 14 minutes.
According to official website of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Police was down 3-1 until the first half and conceded two more goals during the second half. Parbat Pandey scored the consolation for Police through a penalty in the injury time of the first half.
This is the fourth meeting of departmental team against three-time champion Dordoi and Police has lost with the well known opponent on all occasions. However, Saturday´s defeat turned out to be the highest margin defeat so far. Police was defeated 2-1 in the final of 2007 edition and in the group stage of same edition Police was defeated 3-0. A year later, Dordoi had stopped police´s journey in the semifinal with 3-1 victory.
In the tournament´s curtain raiser, Phnom Penh Crown FC of host Cambodia blanked Yeedzin FC of Bhutan 8-0.
Injury hit Police conceded the first goal in the third minute through Mirlan with a powerful strike from the close range. Sharipov Kaiumzhan doubled the tally in 12 minutes and Mirlan added third two minutes later to score 3-0.
Pandey cut the deficit for Police in the injury time of the first half with a penalty awarded after Yogesh Shrestha was fouled by Tagoe Daniel Nii Armah in the area.
Scoring in regular interval, Mirlan completed his hat-trick in the 63rd minute and Samsaliev Talant sealed the victory in the 77th minute wrapping the match 5-1.
Police, was forced to replace its injury hit first choice striker Jumanu Rai in the 22nd minute. Rai had picked knee injury during British Gorkha Cup about two weeks earlier in the capital. Police was also without the service of another striker Bharat Khawas, who played key role in guiding the team towards National League and Martyrs Memorial League title, after he quit the team from current season.
Police coach Birat Krishna Shrestha had assigned the role of forwards to his regular midfielders Bhola Silwal and Yogesh Shrestha.
Despite his team´s humiliating defeat, Police coach Shrestha is optimistic that his side will reach next stage. Goalnepal.com has quoted Shrestha as saying, "We have two matches to play and we want nothing less than win in both matches with a higher goal margin. The match against Phnom Penh will be difficult but we have to win at any cost."
Police will play against Cambodian league champion Phnom Penh on Monday and a win over the home team could keep Police´s dream of moving into next stage afloat.
Analyzing his team´s performance Shrestha said, "We made a lot of mistakes. Our own mistakes cost us dear. They were not that strong to beat us by five goals."
"We were aware of the opponents attacking game. They played in much the same way we expected in during first quarter. They scored three quick goals which led to our defeat . To concede three goals within 14 minutes is something hard to buy. We couldn´t recover," Shrestha was quoted.
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