Nepal give notice of their intentions
Completely devoid of offensive direction or defensive intensity, Pakistan’s women’s football team were obliterated by 8 goals to nil by a Nepal side which completely dominated their South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship fixture, at Longden Place yesterday.
Jamuna Gurung was in sublime form on the day, waltzing into her opponents’ penalty area at will and scoring four spectacular goals. Anu Lama (2), Sajana Rana and Dipa Adikari completed the rout with scorchers of their own.
Female footballers of Nepal were on the rampage when they thrashed Pakistan by 8-0. - Pic by Amila Gamage.
This emphatic victory in Nepal’s tournament opener also sends a strong statement to the other teams in the competition of the country’s very realistic chances of claiming the title.The contest was effectively over by halftime, with six goals already being slotted in. Gurung and Lama struck two initial blows to send the Pakistani defence, which already seemed in shambles, into utter disarray in the 7th and 16th minute. Thereafter the floodgates burst open as Gurung whipped the ball twice more past Pakistan’s helpless goalie within the space of two minutes to claim her hat-trick.
The Pakistanis, who simply refused to throw a decent tackle, once more had to pluck the ball out of the back of their net in the 44th minute when Rana launched a powerful curling strike into the top corner of the goal mouth. Gurung followed this with her fourth goal of the game in the 44th minute to seal a truly outstanding opening half for Nepal.
The Pakistan team that returned to the field for the second half was a battered beast, and seemed clueless about any strategy that would even marginally halt Nepal’s dominant march. As a result, in the 51st minute of the game, Nepal ripped into the heart of Pakistan’s territory, worked the ball down towards the right wing of the field and flighted in a cross that was majestically guided into the net by Lama.
At 7-0, all hope had entirely evaporated even amongst the most faithful of Pakistan’s supporters, and the game was firmly in Nepal’s grip. However, they refused to take their foot off the pedal, and continued to stampede forward in numbers, past hapless Pakistani defenders with slumped shoulders.
The unrelenting pressure eventually snapped the backbone of the Pakistani outfit, as in the 81st minute Adikari produced a moment of true magic. In possession of the ball several yards away from the penalty area, she suddenly took aim and let forth a blistering long-range strike that tore into the top corner of the goal, and turned into the perfect exclamation mark for an utterly commanding performance.
In the day’s second match, there was little to choose between the Maldives and Afghanistan as their tightly- contested encounter ended with the scores tied at one all.
Hailai Argharndival opened scoring in the second minute for Afghanistan before Afza Fathimath struck 11 minutes later to bring the Maldives level.
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