Laxman Pariyar opened the scoring early in the third minute, converting a  corner kick from Abhishek Rijal. Tamang and Aryal added two more goals  in three minutes to make it 3-0. Tamang was fed a back pass by Rijal in the 18th minute and the striker made  no mistake from the area. Aryal then headed home on a Kshitiz Raj’s corner  three minutes later.

Tamang then scored a spectacular goal in the 57th minute, dribbling past  Maldives defenders before firing a low left-footed drive into the  first bar. Aryal added more wounds to the Maldives misery scoring his  second goal deep into the stoppage time.

“What is more important for us is the three points, which we secured with  victory,” said Nepal U-16 coach Upendra Man Singh. The former national  team goalkeeper-captain, however, said he had not even dreamt of winning  the tie with such a huge margin. “As for our next match against  Afghanistan, we will take them as a very tough opponents,” he added.

Maldives coach Mohamed Shahid said Nepal were a tough opponent and that his boys could hardly do anything against the physically strong team. “We still fancy our chances for the semi-finals if we beat Afghanistan,” added the Maldives coach. Nepal will play Afghanistan on Friday.

Nepal pitted against Bangladesh, Bhutan in Saff U-19 C’ship

Lalitpur: Nepal drew Bangladesh and Bhutan in Group ‘A’ of the inaugural Saff Under-19 Championship here on Monday.

In a draw held at the All Nepal Football Association (Anfa) complex in Satdobato, India, Maldives and Afghanistan were drawn in Group ‘B’ of the tournament scheduled here for August 20-29. The seedings for draw was based on the latest AFC U-19 rankings. Bangladesh was seeded top followed by India, Maldives, Nepal, Afghanistan and Bhutan.

Former national team skippers Raju Kaji Shakya and Hari Khadka picked up the team from two pots. The hosts will open their campaign with a match against Bhutan on August 20 before taking on Bhutan on August 24. All matches will be played either at the Anfa Complex or the Army Physical Training & Sports Centre. “If the construction of parapet at the Anfa complex completes before the tournament kicks off, all matches will be there,” said Anfa CEO Indra Man Tuladhar. “Otherwise, the tournament will be held at the Army grounds.” The Anfa complex ground is of artificial turf, while the Army ground is the natural green surface.