Nepal ends Asia Cup qualifiers winless with 1-0 defeat to Laos
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When the draw for the third round of the Asian Cup football qualifiers was made, then head coach Matt Ross claimed that Nepal had a chance of qualifying. At this time, all the matches of Group F in the qualifiers have been completed, Nepal is disappointingly in last place. Nepal has 3 points in its account, but this was only gained in the action against Malaysia. The last match against Laos was witnessed by the defeat of new coach Guglielmo Arena.
This was the debut match of this Italian coach for Nepal. Under his leadership, Nepal did not perform well and was defeated 1-0 by Laos in the match held in Vientiane on Tuesday. The only goal from Laos was scored by Bonphachan Bonkong in the 48th minute. Nepal's performance was largely weak. Nepal had only made the only notable attack throughout the match. It was in the name of Kritisharatna Chunju.
If some of the precise attacks made by Laos had been converted into goals, the winning margin would have been wider. This is Nepal's second consecutive defeat against Laos. This was Nepal's worst performance in the qualifiers. Laos was the only team in the group against which Nepal could have expected to win, but the field result was the exact opposite. Before the match, Coach Arena had said that there would be no other option but to win in this match.
Nepal could not show any possibility of an alternative to that victory. The reason for this very poor result is that Nepal was undefeated in all 6 previous matches against Laos. Out of those, Nepal won 4 matches.
In the next match of the group, Vietnam defeated Malaysia 3-1. After this result, Vietnam remained at the top with 18 points from 6 matches. Vietnam has already qualified for the Asia Cup. Malaysia remained in second place with 9 points. Laos managed to stay in third place with 6 points. Nepal, on the other hand, settled for fourth and last place. Perhaps a different result would have been possible if Nepal had been allowed to play this match on its own soil according to the rules, but the Dasharath Stadium is undergoing a FIFA ban.
Winless Nepal
International football is currently going through another bad phase. The team has not been able to win in 8 consecutive matches. Nepal last defeated Singapore 1-0 on its own field in March 2025. Immediately after that, Nepal lost 2-0 to Malaysia in a qualifying match. Malaysia was later punished for playing ineligible players. That is why the 3-0 victory was in Nepal's favor.
Since then, Nepal has not won a single match. Out of these 5 matches, it has lost 5 matches and three matches have ended in a draw. Moreover, Nepal has not been able to score a goal in five of these matches. Meanwhile, three coaches have joined the team. Among them were Hari Khadka along with foreign players. It is not yet known when Nepal will end this winless journey. Because it is also uncertain what FIFA will decide about Nepali football amid controversy and confusion.
