The World Cup qualifiers are an opportunity where Nepali football has faced its biggest challenge so far. Nepal has rarely faced such a strong opponent in any other competition. That is why the stories of playing against such teams are very exciting.

In the sense of exciting, Nepal has not only suffered a humiliating defeat against such a strong opponent, but has also played an equally memorable game. In the World Cup qualifiers too, Nepal has produced impressive results against teams of equal status. In such a situation, out of the games Nepal has played so far in the World Cup qualifiers, we have prepared a list of five such games, which are remembered repeatedly. Their discussion will never get old.

1985, against Malaysia

Nepal's first World Cup qualifier was in 1985. Among them, the game against Malaysia at Dasharath Stadium is often remembered by players of that generation. What happened was that the Malaysian team was strong at that time and the only belief of the team since arriving in Kathmandu was that they would easily and widely defeat Nepal. Members of the Malaysian royal family had come to Kathmandu by private plane to watch this game. But Malaysia was shocked when the game ended in a goalless draw. This result had finally hindered Malaysia's dream of qualifying for the World Cup.

This game against Macau in 1997 in Muscat is a game where Nepal managed to open the goal account in the World Cup qualifiers. The goal scorer was Hari Khadka. Nepal could not win the game, but the 1-1 draw was also a good achievement in a way. This was the fourth individual goal scored by Hari for Nepal. He has scored a total of 13 goals for Nepal. He is at the top of the list of highest goalscorers for Nepal along with Neerajan Rayamajhi and Anjan Bista. Coincidentally, all three of these players are somehow associated with Nepal's best performance in the World Cup qualifiers.

This match against Macau in 2001 is considered to be Nepal's best performance in the World Cup qualifiers so far. The score itself speaks for itself. Nepal won 6-1. There is another historical aspect to the match played in Almaty, Kazakhstan, now in Europe. This was Nepal's 100th international match. Neerajan Rayamajhi scored a hat-trick in it. The times were 38th, 49th and 56th minutes. The team's coach at that time was Maheshwor Mulmi. Nepal had performed well in the two rounds of matches in Almaty and Baghdad. So, what can I say, this coach is lucky for Nepal. For some time, Mulmi's name remained, 'Bhagyamani Guru'.

In 2011, the Nepali team was in a state of shock after losing 9-0 in the first leg match against Jordan. It was a very humiliating defeat. The second leg was held in Kathmandu. It was looking like another big defeat was ahead. But nothing like that happened at the Dasharath Stadium, Nepal managed to hold a strong team to a 1-1 draw with Jordan. The goal was scored by Bharat Khawas. The entire field was wet due to continuous rain. Jordan's FIFA ranking was 81st at that time. In that sense, Bharat's goal has its own significance. Bharat is the player who has scored the most goals for Nepal at the Dasharath Stadium.

2019, against Chinese Taipei

Nepal's performance in the World Cup qualifiers has not been that good lately, except for the 2-0 win against Chinese Taipei at home. This was the first match in which Nepal defeated any opponent in the World Cup qualifiers at home. The player who scored both goals in the match in Taipei City was Anjan Bista. Now Anjan has also reached 13 goals. Everyone is waiting for his record goal to come out. Anjan opened the goal account for Nepal from the same match against Chinese Taipei. After this, he suddenly appeared in a rhythm and kept scoring goals. Thus, the three best players that Nepal got, Hari, Neerajan and Anjan, are associated with the World Cup qualifiers in a memorable way.