Sports
Myanmar crush Nepal hopes
Nepal crashed out of the AFC U-16 Women’s Championship Qualifier with a demoralising 11-1 loss at the hands of a clinical Myanmar team on Friday.Nepal crashed out of the AFC U-16 Women’s Championship Qualifier with a demoralising 11-1 loss at the hands of a clinical Myanmar team on Friday.
Myanmar sunk 10 goals in the first half with forward Swe Mar Aung alone netting five goals and skipper Myat Noe Khin scoring a hat-trick. Nepal pulled one back in the second half through Nikita Thokar. The result means Nepal, who were crushed 4-0 by Philippines in their first match, are out from next year’s finals to be held in Thailand.
Nepal are so far at the bottom of the four-team Group ‘E’ with the team still to open their account. Only the top two teams from each group will make it to next year’s Finals. Myanmar and Philippines are both through to the Finals and will now take on each other on Sunday to decide the group winners. Nepal will play Malaysia in their last match on Sunday.
It was Zin Mar Htwe who opened the scoring for Myanmar in the third minute after she beat the offside trap and fired past the advancing Nepali custodian Sabitri Kisan. Aung doubled the tally in the fifth as Nepali continued to concede under intense pressure. “The girls looked a bit hopeless after conceding goals early in the game. The Myanmar players were physically tough and our girls lacked experience,” said Nepal coach Ganga Gurung.
Aung struck her second in the seventh minute with a pin-point header from the zone. Three minutes later skipper Khin brought her team’s fourth goal. Ayung completed her hat-trick in the 17th scoring on a rebound from the goalline after Kishan fumbled a powerful shot from Wai Phoo Eain. She struck again four minutes later on a solo effort making an excellent run from the midfield and slammed home above Kishan.
Khin doubled her tally with a powerful shot from the edge of the area in the 29th minute and a minute later Eain joined the scoring spree to bring the team’s eighth goal. Khin and Ayung added one each in the first half as Nepal headed into the second half with a huge 10-goal deficit.
Having already scored almost a dozen goal, Myanmar coach San San Thein changed her strategy in the second half that helped Nepal breathe a sigh of relief. “Our players were tired after making long run in the first half so we decided to play passing game. We were nicely organised because we had come here after training for a long time,” said the Myanmar coach.
Myanmar added their 11th in the 62nd minute through Pont Pont Pyae Maung and Thokar finally pulled one back for Nepal in the 73rd minute. Thokar got a rebound from dispossessed Myanmar custodian Khin Myat Moe to score in an empty net. Nepal tried hard to add more in the second half but were left ruing their poor finishing.