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| December 5, 2003 | Friday | Shawwal 10, 1424 |
Asian U-20 soccer Pakistan eliminated
DHAKA, Dec 4: Nepal got off to a resounding start in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under-20 qualifying round with a 3-0 thrashing of Pakistan at Sher-i-Bangla National Stadium.
Forward Raj Kumar Ghishing, Bijay Gurung and Pradeep Maharajan scored one goal each for Himalayan Kingdom in their opening Group Five encounter.
The outcome of match left hosts Bangladesh, who beat Pakistan 1-0 in inaugural match, with a must win situation to qualify for finals when they face Nepal in the last game.
On the other hand, a draw would be enough for Nepal to pip the hosts on goal difference.
Nepal justified their pre-match billing as a vastly improved team by taking lead in very third minute.
A sloppy clearance by Pakistan defence allowed striker Raj Kumar to take possession of the ball, who then beat his marker before firing the ball into far corner of net with a powerful right-footer from an acute angle (1-0).
To their credit, Pakistan regrouped and constantly attacked Nepalese in remaining minutes of the half but poor finishing let them down.
With Pakistanis tiring, Nepal, who were content to soak up the pressure for most of the game, staged a late second half flurry and scored two more goals in last 20 minutes.
Bijay Gurung doubled the margin heading home a Susan Bhandari cross from the right in 73rd minute while Pradeep, after a brilliant solo run from left flank, sealed fate of Pakistanis with a magnificent left foot volley a minute before long whistle.
With their second defeat on the trot, Pakistan were eliminated from the three-nation qualifying round.
Nepal: Bikash, Subash (Birat Thapa), Prashant Giri, Pradeep, Pralaya Rajbhandari, Bijay Gurung, Raj Kumar, Prabin Manandhar, Anjan, Lok Bandhu and Shekhar Thapa.
Pakistan: Zulfiqar (Abdullah), Akhtar, Umar Farooq, Mubashar, Saleem, Imran, Farooq Shah, Rafiq, Shakoor (Misbah), Ejaj Ahmad and Ahmad (Waqas).
Referee: Nishantha Pingamage (Sri Lanka).—PPI
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