Nepal’s hopes to progress into the third round of the 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers and secure an automatic berth to the 2027 AFC Asian Cup ended after they suffered a 3-0 defeat against Bahrain in their second leg match at the Bahrain National Stadium on Wednesday.

A fourth defeat in as many matches puts Vincenzo Alberto Annese’s men miserably at the bottom of Group H and without a point, thanks to another sloppy performance in Riffa that sent them packing from the second round without playing their remaining two fixtures. Nepal have never progressed beyond the second round in the World Cup qualifiers.

Perfect United Arab Emirates qualified for the third round and Asian Cup from Group H after a 3-0 victory against Yemen gave them 12 points from four games. Bahrain have nine points from three matches and are in a strong position to advance as they are six points away from third place Yemen.

A series of disappointing results—including a 5-0 first leg mauling by Bahrain on Friday and also defeats against UAE (4-0) and Yemen (2-0)—will now put Annese’s method under lenses.

The Italian coach arrived in Nepal in March last year but things have never clicked into gear for the Gorkhalis under him.

Nepal almost suffered their first ever defeat against South Asian minnows Bhutan during the Three Nations Cup the same month. Nepal also struggled against Laos in the first round of World Cup qualifiers and had to scrape a hard fought 2-1 aggregate victory to progress further. They also had a pitiful campaign at the 2023 SAFF Championship last year.

The Italian coach had travelled to Bahrain with a squad that was missing key players Rohit Chand, Ayush Ghalan and Arik Bista and their absence was clearly felt on Wednesday as well.

The coach made four changes from the squad that was humiliated by Bahrain in the reverse fixture but Bahrain proved too hot to handle again.

The Pearl Divers took the lead in the seventh minute taking advantage of a mistake from Laken Limbu, whose poor handling of the ball inside his own penalty box allowed Sayed Baqer to deflect the ball past Nepal captain, the goalkeeper Kiran Kumar Limbu.

Nepal fell further behind in the 16th minute through Abdulla Yusuf Helal’s penalty kick that was awarded to Bahrain after goalkeeper Limbu fouled Mohamed Marhoon.

Al Aswad then added the third in the 36th minute finishing off a swift counter attack, adding salt to Nepal’s wounds.

Nepal prevented Bahrain from scoring further but the defeat summed up another disappointing campaign for Nepal again.

It was Nepal’s 10th defeat in 13 matches under Annese. Two wins came against less fancied Laos and one against Pakistan during the SAFF Championship. Nepal have now conceded 14 goals without scoring one in the Qualifiers.

Nepal play against the UAE and Yemen in the reverse fixtures in June.

Despite a disappointing World Cup qualifier campaign, Nepal can still look for a light at the end of the tunnel as they still have hopes to qualify for the Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia.

Nepal will now play in the Asian Cup Qualification playoffs (third round) in March next year.

But the Nepal team will need a reset if they are to silence the critics and qualify for their maiden Asian Cup.

Australia, Iraq, Iran, Uzbekistan, Qatar have also qualified for the third round and Asian Cup along with hosts Saudi Arabia.