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Nepal finish with flourish

Sports Reporter
l\vo goals from striker Anil Gurung helped Nepal finish their final group match of the Bangabandhu SAFF Championship with a 3-0 win over Afghanistan at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.
Apart from Anil's brace, Bijoy Gurung netted the other for Nepal, who took their tally to four from three outings after going down 1-0 to India and playing out a 1-1 draw against Maldives, who need a draw against India in the day's next fixture to be advanced into the semifinals as the fourth team.
The third defeat in as many matches meant that the Afghans were eliminated from the group stage four times in a row since their first appearance in the third SAFF Championship in 2003 in Dhaka. In their 12-match SAFF history, they have tasted only one victory against Sri Irinka, a 2-1 win during the fourth SAFF Championship in Pakistan in 2005.
After losing points to India and Maldives in the first two matches, a spirited Nepal knew it well that a big win might put them in the last four from Group A. subject to a Maldives' defeat to India in the next match.
But the Nepalese appeared on the backfoot from the word go after the /Afghanistan forwards terrorised the Nepal backline twice in the beginning moments.
Four minutes into the game, Afghan striker Hashmattullah Barkezai tested Nepal goalkeeper Bikash Mallah letting loose a powerful drive outside the box and the Nepal goalkeeper was forced to dive to his left palming the shot
away at the cost of a throw. Just two minutes later, Afghanistan almost took a lead when Israfecl Kohistani hit a cross from Sayed Bashir onto the crosspiece.
After surviving two close calls, Nepal apparently rose up from the slumber and lifted their tempo with Ju Manu Rai and Shantosh Shahukhala going close twice.
Rai darted in to the Afghan box to hammer a grounder that went narrowly wide of the far post in the 12th minute while Shantosh, who played for Chittagong Abahani last season, curled a right-footer from the left-side box only to see it narrowly miss the target in the 16th minute.
Afterwards, both team fought equally and the ball was mostly concentrated in middle during the first half.
Nepal started with great pace after the resumption and got the deserved lead 10 minutes into the second half when Anil drove a Chetan Ghimire's right-side lob home inside the box. One minute later following the centre, Anil was about to increase the lead, but his shot was well blocked by goalkeeper Hamidullah Yosufazai and Bijoy Gurung sent the follow-up home to give Nepal a comfortable 2-0 lead.
With 17 minutes remaining, Anil struck his second and team's third to seal the fate of the match as the striker received a long-lob from defender Biraj Maharjan inside the box and lashed a grounder that found the back of Afghan net giving no chance to Hamidullah.
"The boys lifted their pace in the second half and got three goals,” said Nepal coach Kristhna Thapa at the post-match briefing.
SEE PAGE 18 COL 4 FROM PAGE 17
"But, we will wait for the result of the Maldives-India match and I believe India will beat Maldives in a bid to avoid Bangladesh in the semfinals and if India can do that, I will be thrown in the last four," Thapa.
"We had a good experience from the tournament and it will help us in the future," said YosufKargar.
He, however, said that the lack of preparation and facilities back at home let them down in all three matches.
TEAMS
AFGHANISTAN: Zohib Islam, Hashmattuliah Barkezai, Mogaddar Gazizada, Mustafa Hadid (Hafizullah Gadami), Israfeel Kohistani, Saboor Khalili, Zakria Rezai (Faisal Sakhizada), Ali Ahmad Yarzada, Masood Hashemi, Syed Bashir Azimi and HamidullahYosufzai.
NEPAL: Ju Manu Rai, Rabin Shrestha, Chetan Ghimire (Ranjit Shrestha), Raju Tamang, Bi jay Gurung (Rakesh Shrestha), Bikash Malla, Biraj Maharjan, Rohit Chand, Sagar Thapa, Anil Gurung and Santosh Shahukhala (Nirajan Khadka). Yellow cards: Hashmattuliah Barkezai (Afghanistan). Ranjit Shrestha (Nepal)
Referee: HlaTint (Myanmar)