Nepal lift PM Three Nations Cup title

By Anjan Khadka,Kathmandu, April.1: Nepal has been crowned the title of the Prime Minister Three Nations Cup after registering a 2-1 victory over the Southeast Asian country Laos in the final held at Dasharath Stadium, Kathmandu on Friday evening.

Ayush Ghalan and Manish Dangi netted one goal apiece as Nepal won the title at home after two years gap. Defender Phoutthavong Sangvilay netted a consolation goal for the visitors. 

Earlier, Nepal won the title of the Three Nations Cup in 2021 on March 29 beating Bangladesh by 2-1 in the final held at Dasharath Stadium, Kathmandu. Nepal clinched the title remaining unbeaten after making a heroic comeback from going one goal down in the first half against Laos.

Earlier, Nepal beat Laos by 2-0 in the opening match and played a 1-1 draw against South Asian rival Bhutan in the second match. This is also the third win over the Laos. Nepal defeated Laos in the semifinals of the AFC Solidarity Cup in 2016. 

Coach Vincenzo Alberto Annese also made his debut in Nepal's national football team with a trophy. This is the first international series Nepal played under the Italian coach. The All Nepal Football Association appointed him on the first day of this month. Coach Vincenzo said his boys have proved themselves with this trophy win.  "We are improving our performance day by day. I will do better in coming days." 

Ghalan of Nepal kissed the most valuable player of the tournament for his outstanding performance while Dangi was declared the Man of the match final for the winning goal against Laos.  Ghalan said Nepal planned to score an early goal but vice versa happened. "We, however, came up better after conceding goal. We created many scoring chances but were not up to the mark." He assured to do much better with the inspiration from his seniors Kiran Kumar Limbu, Anjan Bista and Rohit Chand.

Laos took the lead in the 17th minute of the game. Sangvilay beat the defensive line to score the deflected ball passed from outside the penalty area.

Goalkeeper Xaysavath foiled Nepal's attempt to equalize in the 22nd minute. He saved Sanish Shrestha's attempt at Navin Lama's free-kick. Urged on by more than nine thousand home supporters, Nepal found the equalizer two minutes later from Ghalan. He slammed a pass given by Erik Bista from inside the area with a clinical finish.

Soon after, Nepal lost the opportunity to take the lead. After beating the wing-back, Manish provided a cutback to Navin, who passed it to Ghalan. But the Most Valuable Player of the Tournament missed a sitter from 6 yards.

In the 55th minute, Nepal again failed to take the lead as Deepak Singh Thakuri and Ghalan missed another sitter from the six-yard box. They missed converting Dangi’s cross from the right wing.

Once again, Ghalan went closer to the goal in the 61st minute, but his header could not direct the ball into an empty post. After Naveen's cross beat the goalkeeper at the front post, Ghalan had the opportunity to double Nepal’s advantage.

In the 69th minute, Nishan Khadka's free-kick hit the crossbar. Five minutes later, Dangi shot the rebound from Anjan Bista inside the post, but the assistant referee raised the flag for offside. Bista replaced Thakuri in the 68th minute to ramp up the attack against Laos.

Dangi, however, rescued Nepal in the 88th minute, by slamming a powerful low shot after controlling the pass given by Bista. The adversary goalkeeper could not save Dangi’s powerful low shot from inside the penalty area.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal witnessed the victory of Nepal staying full-time at the stadium. He also presented the medals to the players of the winning and losing team.