Machhindra banner

Here are a few more photos of my Machhindra FC banner:

Banner in all its glory!

The mighty White Lion

My neighborhood is Chappal Karkhana - get it?

Reverse angle

Strong fan culture needed

Nepalis are some of the most passionate football fans in the world. Where else in the world will you find packed stadiums supporting a national team and club sides that have failed miserably for the last 20 years?

Despite the fantastic enthusiasm we Nepalis have for football, the one area where we come-up terribly short is in terms of fan culture. At stadiums and grounds across the country there is a lot of “Ha-Hoo”, but very little of the sounds and colors that make viewing a football match so entertaining.

A big part of the charm of watching European club football or the World Cup is witnessing the crowds. The Dutch fans all clad in Orange, Brazilian supporters grooving to Samba beats, Manchester City fans celebrating by doing the Poznan and the amazing tifos organized by Italian club loyalists.

It is uncommon to find anything like that in Nepal. Fans wearing team colors, organizing chants or carrying flags and banners is as rare as a Nepali National Team striker scoring a goal in a meaningful game. Thus the atmosphere at many football matches tends to be very bland.

Part of the issue is that many Nepali clubs, even today, do not play in consistent colors. Many times they settle for whatever is available at local sports shops across Kathmandu. Also they do not make club merchandise (jerseys, t-shirts, scarves) available to their supporters or arrange any sort of programs to develop and organize their fan base.

Furthermore, Nepali media have been slow to romanticize football. Other than GoalNepal, media outlets rarely try to create nicknames for players, clubs and derby matches. Until very recently, team logos and uniform templates very seldom were displayed in previews and reviews of matches or on league standings. Therefore fans lacked the impetus to create supporting materials.

Fans themselves also have been quite unmoved to be proactive. Most disappointing are the supporters who spend many hours developing fan clubs devoted to English Premier League clubs yet can’t be bothered to do the same for their local clubs or even the National Team.

Strong fan culture brings with it tremendous benefits to Nepali football. Think of how many more fans would start attending league matches if atmosphere at games went up a few notches – for example Three Star fans all dressed in blue on one side of the stadium waving flags and NRT fans in green on the other side singing for 90 minutes.

With a livelier crowd, the intimidation factor for visiting teams also goes up, giving the National Team or Nepali club sides better prospects to win the match.

Also some of the ills of Nepali football such as match fixing would be potentially curtailed. Imagine the pressure players or club officials will feel when knowing that hundreds of their fans will be at the match rooting passionately for their team. Certainly it should give them pause before attempting to manipulate a match.

Me and Machhindra

As one who likes to put his money where his mouth is, I’ve tried my best to drum-up fan culture at Machhindra FC, the club I root for, whether it is by initiating their Facebook Page (someone else runs it now), wearing club colors to matches and even taking a Machhindra FC banner to Nepal U16 National Team matches in Singapore.

Most recently I created a five meter banner that reads “White Lions” – the nickname of Machhindra FC. I simply can’t wait to hang it up the next time Machhindra plays at Rangashala. 

Rock bottom

After losing to Afghanistan in the semifinals of the SAFF Championship, Nepal's disastrous AFC Challenge Cup, and now NPC's blowout loss to Dordoi Dynamo, coupled with a loss to Cambodian minnows Phnom Penh Crown in the AFC Presidents Cup, all of which come in some of Asia's weakest football tournaments, it is safe to say Nepali football has hit rock bottom.

And with no sound club, youth, administration, coach and referee development programs previously or currently in place, the future of Nepali football looks terrifyingly bleak.

Importance of coaching

Today I was reminded once again how important coaching is in sports. I stumbled upon a school level athletics meet at Dasharath Rangashala and was shocked at how poor the running mechanics of the athletes were. There were so many basic things the kids could do that would easily improve their time by a few seconds, but no one must have taught them and I presume even their coaches probably are not informed about proper running techniques.

My guess is that the top athletes in this meet will go on for years using incorrect technique and by the time they are ready to compete in a top class tournament they will be spending their time un-learning their bad techniques, instead of going forward and learning advanced training methods.

That's why I firmly believe the first thing any sports organization should do to raise the standard of their sport is to develop top class coaches who will teach kids from an early age proper techniques in their respective sports.

"Better than expected"

Tom Byer in Dharan

I was privileged to have been invited by Roots Fashion, the Adidas distributor in Nepal, to shadow renowned Japanese youth football coach Tom Byer during his visit to Nepal. Together we toured various football facilities, watched football training and matches at all levels and Coach Byer also conducted two youth football coaching clinics in Kathmandu and Dharan.

One recurring phrase I kept hearing Coach Byer use during his visit was, “Better than expected.” Whether it was Shahid Stadium in Biratnagar or an Under 14 match we went to see at Budhanilakantha School or the British Gurkha Cup match we watched – everything was “Better than expected.”

The reasons for Coach Byer’s initial low expectations were understandable. When visiting Dasharath Rangasala he was informed that it was the only decent stadium in Nepal. When he was at the Under 14 match, one of the teams arrived half-an-hour late and seemed to have no sense of urgency whatsoever to put on their uniforms and warm-up. When visiting the training of one of Nepal’s biggest clubs he was shocked to see that the team did not even have practice uniforms. Even Coach Byer’s press conference announcing the launch of his football training DVD in Nepali had to be rescheduled at the last moment because ANFA only the night before decided to change the start time of the semi-final matches of the British Gurkha Cup.

So when Coach Byer entered Shahid Stadium and noticed that it was not much different than a Brazilian ground or when he saw how skillful the U14 kids were or when he witnessed how lively a Nepali club match can be – he was quite impressed, everything was actually “Better than expected.”

In a way Nepali football is just like a Nepali wedding – total chaos up to the night before the ceremony, but at the end everything seems to come together, one way or another, and most times it is even quite enjoyable.

There is a famous adage – “The devil is in the details.” There are perhaps over a hundred small little details that we could improve to develop Nepali football further. Imagine if our stadiums were maintained regularly and not just before a cup tournament or if our youth players were instilled with more discipline to show up on time or our clubs conducted training a bit more professionally with proper uniforms or the schedule for a tournament would be thought-through weeks in advance giving fans time to prepare for a match. I would venture to guess that just paying attention to these types of small details would raise the level of Nepali football by 10-15%, which would be enough to beat the likes of Afghanistan and Maldives on a regular basis.

With all the challenges Nepal and ANFA faces these days – talk of a new international stadium, a world renowned National Team coach or regular international friendlies against top class opposition are all unrealistic. Instead we need to concentrate on the things we can control and easily improve. Pay attention to all the small details we often neglect and surely the results for our club and national teams will be a lot “Better than expected.”

Under 14 friendly matches

A few days back I was at Machhindra Under 14 team's training at FutsalArena and broke the news to the trainees that ANFA's Under 14 tournament that was supposed to be days away was going to be postponed for several months. The kids were absolutely devastated.

I then quickly thought to myself that there must be several other clubs that had started youth training who were also feeling the same anguish and frustrations as that of Machhindra boys. Immediately I took out my mobile and called the clubs I knew were running youth football training. A few minutes later - BOOM! Four clubs - Machhindra, Friends, Social Welfare Sports Center (SWSC) and Bansbari agreed to play a series of friendly matches against each other.

Bansbari Club and SWSC players before the match

Two games in, I've been completely taken aback by how wonderful the Under 14 matches have been - both on and off the pitch. On the pitch - the skills on display is quite impressive and all the matches have been very entertaining. There have been many outstanding goals, saves, passes and dribbles. Everyone I know that attended the games have thoroughly enjoyed watching the budding talents and commented that these types of matches need to be held regularly.

Friends vs Machhindra (U14)

Off the pitch there have been so many beautiful sights. Kids having the opportunity to travel to games and play on proper fields in new surroundings. Teams being open and honest about ages of players, a few who might be a year or two over-age. Terrific sportsmanship with players helping each other up, coaches and fans applauding great plays from both sides, complete respect for the referee and hugs and handshakes after the match. Most memorable for me was seeing a young girl take the field for SWSC. And she went toe-to-toe with the boys!

Binita Tamang played for SWSC as a striker against Bansbari

In a football environment that is plagued by match fixing, age cheating, rowdy fans and incompetent officials, the U14 friendly matches have so far been a real breath of fresh air.

Youth football

In football at least, Nepal in the mid-2000s did very well in youth tournaments, but that was because the Nepali team was results oriented while other teams were much more development focused.

Results in youth tournaments are not always a good indicator of the strength of youth football in a country as different countries have different objectives for tournaments. For example, Japan usually sends a local school team to the AFC Festival of Football. On the other hand Nepal's U13/14 team comprises of ANFA Academy players that have been living and training together for 2/3 years! They play to their strengths and always try to win, while more mature football nations might take a long term approach and choose to work on their weaknesses and sacrifice results. (And there are some other issues in play which I rather not discuss publicly).

At the end of the day 40, 60, 80 or even 100 kids training in a sole football academy is not going to take Nepali football to the next level. We need tens of thousands kids playing organized football under the supervision of competent coaches. That can only happen if ANFA, clubs and local communities work together.

Cycle of Doom

If this article sounds familiar, you are not mistaken. I have probably written a similar piece about 5 times in the last 15 years. That is because Nepali football for the last two decades has been in a perpetual “Cycle of Doom”. In my hometown of New York City we call it, “Same shit, different day”.

It’s not an exact science, but here is basically how the Cycle of Doom goes:

1)      Nepal appoints a foreign coach (Stephen Constantine, Torsten Spittler, Graham Roberts) and the coach starts making grand proclamations, wears Nepali “topi” and sings lullabies with the players sending fans into a frenzy. (In fairness, Torsten Spittler was strictly business and did not engage in the aforementioned)

2)      Nepal hosts a major international tournament (SAFF Cup 1997, South Asian Games 1999, AFC Presidents Cup 2005, AFC Challenge Cup 2012) and fans and media think that a golden age in Nepali football is about to start.

3)      Nepal or Nepal’s club representative disappoints in the major international tournament (Basanta Gauchan’s tears-1999, Nirazan Khadka’s agony-2005, Graham Robert’s, “Ask the players” comment-2012)

4)      Nepal/ANFA/Ganesh Thapa gets recognized by FIFA/AFC (FIFA Rankings-2012/2011, Ganesh Thapa becomes AFC Vice President/AFC Gold Medal, Nepal nominated for AFC Association of the Year award-2005) distracting fans and media form the core problems facing Nepali football

5)      Nepal/Nepali Club wins meaningless tournament (Prime Ministers Cup, Subroto Mukerjee Cup (U14), Sikkim Governors Gold Cup) creating false hope

6)      Nepal/Nepali Club gets its ass kicked in FIFA/AFC tournament and Biplav Gautam writes another one of his articles that Nepal needs to focus on developing coaches and youth football

7)      Nepal/Nepali Club whips inferior side (Macau-2001, Abahani Limited-2008, East Timor-2011) but fans and media think we just defeated Brazil/Real Madrid so expectations are high once more

8)      The Cycle of Doom starts again (go back to #1)

At the end of each Cycle of Doom senior sports journalists leave their trade to start NGOs, while die-hard fans get married and have kids and are not able to religiously follow Nepali football anymore, thus we are left with fans and media persons in diapers who think Nepali football’s history began only yesterday and that “Nepal’s fortunes will change once we find a decent striker”.

Sorry kids but Nepali football has been around 80+ years. New Road Team (NRT) is over 75 years-old, ANFA over 50, ANFA Academy has been in place for 13 years. When Naresh Joshi and Nirajan Raymajhi were banging in goals for fun, the problem was defenders, with Graham Roberts’ “World Class backline” (his words, not mine), striking is the issue.

Our National Team hasn’t beaten Maldives, a country smaller than Bhaktapur that is about sink into the Indian Ocean because of Global Warming, in ages. In the meantime clubs from countries like Myanmar and Taiwan have gone from chumps to champs in less than half-a-decade winning the last two editions of the AFC Presidents Cup respectively.

Breaking the Cycle of Doom

So how do we turn the Cycle of Doom into a Cycle of Boom? If you have read my past articles, you have heard it all before, so I’ll be very brief.

Our present challenge is that our current National Team players are simply not good enough to compete at the international level. That is why just one National Team member, Rohit Chand, plays for a foreign club. We need players of a higher standard and that will only come about if we have a large pool of players and intense competition for places.

To develop top talents you first need quality coaches (not tens but hundreds) and a youth system where thousands of kids (not just 40 at the ANFA Academy) are playing organized football and training under the guidance of competent coaches.

There is no rocket-science involved, ANFA as well as clubs, schools and communities need to invest heavily on coaching and youth football. Yes, it’s that simple.

I really don’t know much about football

Usually when a big soccer tournament comes around I get quite a few requests from the Nepali media to give insights. I’ve always refused because the truth is I really don’t know much about football – well at least the tactical aspects of each game.

Sure, I know a lot of the theoretical stuff – like if you have a team of midgets you need to keep the ball on the ground, but watching a game live I really couldn’t tell you if a player was out of position or the formation changes that the coaches might have made as the game progressed.

The reason for this is that my eyes always drift away from the pitch. My background is in Sports Marketing and Sports Management (as in managing a league, not players) thus I’m much more interested in how the advertising hoardings look than how the defensive backline is holding up. When I’m at game I’m busy analyzing the match day experience, stadium layout, ticketing system, fan interaction, security, food and drinks available and even if the number of urinals in the restrooms is adequate for the size of the crowd. I can’t even begin to count the number of goals I've missed while at a game because I was too busy trying to figure-out where all the TV cameras were stationed.

The reason I will not be attending any of the high profile AFC Challenge Cup matches is because I’ve been to enough of these types of tournaments to have a good idea on all of the above mentioned aspects of the match/tournament, so I have little interest in dealing with the crowds, parking problems, and transportation issues that come along with going to night matches at Dasharath Rangasala.

I’ll just watch the tournament from the comfort of my home and let you know if the match commentators were up to standard, how good or bad the camera angles were and if the halftime commercials provided any value to the advertisers. And if I do go off track and tell you that a certain player stinks, it probably means he’s bloody brilliant!

Nepali players mentioned by Premier League club

OK, so the the title is a bit deceiving :)

Aston Villa, my favorite club (cough, cough), posted a photo of Azad Pradhan, Kiran Limbu and Buddha Chemzong on their Facebook page. Here's the caption:

Villa donated a set of kits and other football equipments to Machhindra FC, a club based in Kathmandu, Nepal. The young goalkeeper in the center of the photo , Kiran Limbu, is now Nepal's 1st choice National Team Goalkeeper. The two other players Azad Pradhan (left) and Buddha Chemzong (right) play in Nepal's premier division. Looks like the Villa kits must have inspired the lads! Photo taken in 2006.

Nepal's football development in our hands

Have you been to the official ANFA website (www.the-anfa.com) recently? No need to waste bandwidth visiting it, I can assure you - it is hopeless!

Photo: Gopal Chitrakar (Reuters)

However shoddy the ANFA website might be, no one is really complaining about it. Why? Because there are plenty of alternatives, like GoalNepal, that give us all the Nepali football news, results and multimedia we are looking for.

But imagine if there were no websites like GoalNepal. We would probably all be kicking and screaming about how ANFA is not doing its job, that ANFA has the wrong priorities, that ANFA does not care about the fans and that the Government of Nepal should donate a few laptops and servers to ANFA.

With GoalNepal and the many other up and coming Nepali football/sports websites, blogs and Facebook Pages out there – whether ANFA has a good or bad website really is inconsequential. The Nepali football information we desire is easily accessible anyway.

Nepal’s Internet sports information boom proves that not everything needs to start from the top. The Government of Nepal (GON), National Sports Council (NSC) and ANFA are currently just too politicized and have too many vested interests to deliver sound planning and strategy to take football and sports in Nepal to a level that hardcore fans dream about. It will thus be private individuals, groups and organizations that will have to play the lead role in developing Nepali football.

We are already seeing this in action sporadically across the country.

• Nepal Sports Journalist Forum (NSJF) annually hosts the Sports Award which has done much to motivate and encourage aspiring footballers and other sportsmen.

• Oshonik Club runs women’s football camps across the Western region and many of Nepal’s women footballers have ties to the Nepalgunj based club.

• Social Welfare Sports Center conducts youth training in the Nayabazaar Dhara neighborhood of Kathmandu and has produced several Martyrs League ‘A’ Division level players.

• Sahara Club every year hosts the Aaha Gold Cup, which has become Nepal’s preeminent Football Cup Tournament and has helped inspire others clubs and communities to also organize similar events.

• NRNs and Nepalis working abroad have been making a contribution to football in a variety of ways including equipment/financial donations and as liaisons between promising Nepali players and foreign clubs.

• Ambitious entrepreneurs opened up the Futsal Arena in Thamel.

And right on cue, Nepal’s top soccer star Rohit Chand just the other day donated Rs. 30,000 worth of equipment to help support football in the MidWestern Region.

The current challenge is that in Nepal there are only a handful of people like Bhoj Raj Shahi (Founder and President of Oshonik Club) and Bikram Thapa (Founder and Editor of GoalNepal) out there who are working passionately day and night to do their part to uplift football in Nepal, while in other parts of the globe there are thousands if not tens of thousands similar persons.

Though billion dollar clubs like Barcelona and Manchester United grab all the headlines, we need to remember that 95% of the worldwide football ecosystem is made up of clubs, tournaments, coaches, referees, administrators, etc. that are mostly run and operated by locals and volunteers.

Unfortunately in Nepal we still have a tendency to look to higher powers, be it God, Government or Ganesh [Thapa] (i.e. ANFA), to solve all our problems and the attitude of “If they are not doing anything, why should I?” prevails. As an example, there are perhaps over a thousand registered football clubs across the country, but only several dozen could be deemed as “active”. If you talk to the leadership of most Nepali clubs they’ll blame their inactivity on the lack of support from the three “G’s” mentioned above.

Undoubtedly, it would be ideal if the grassroots football movement worked closely with and were supported by top level institutions (GON, NSC, ANFA). However it is not essential, especially in this day and age with so many resources available at our finger tips. With the Internet and other new media channels we can all be football experts, we can all develop links, we can all raise awareness and funds for projects we are passionate about.

Tons of coaching, sports management, marketing information and resources can be found online. You no longer have to attend AFC or FIFA courses to understand how football works. Being an ANFA official is not a prerequisite to communicate with the international football fraternity.

The power to develop football in Nepal is essentially in our hands. So stop fantasizing about what the Government, NSC and ANFA could do, should do, needs to do and roll-up your sleeves and simply do it yourself! Start a fan club, create a website, learn to be a coach, organize youth training, donate a football, teach your grandmother the offside rule – you’ll have made your contribution to Nepal's football revolution.

Why Nepal Police Club keeps winning

A few reasons why NPC keeps winning:

1. Year round training

2. Private training ground

3. Same core group of players and coaches every year

4. Constantly scouting for new talents (e.g. Bharat Khawas)

5. Great coach

Almost all Nepali clubs lack at least 3 of those points, if not more.

Turn National League into Champions League

"ANFA would be wise to drastically simplify the National League system by going to a less complex Champions League model. Let each district run its own league, with the Martyrs League being the district competition for Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur. Then assign a quota to each district for qualification to the Nepal Champions League. As an example Martyrs League would get 8 teams; strong districts like Kaski, Sunsari and Rupandehi 2 teams each; and weaker districts like Ilam and Syangja 1 team each. You can then have a World Cup type tournament where single leg group matches are played in different cities across the country and the knockout phase is held in Kathmandu."

Read the full article at GoalNepal.com 

Pokhara sports photos

Want take an award winning sports photo? Go to Pokhara! 

Photo by Sudarshan Ranjit

Photo by Kyohei Fujioka

  

Photo by Udipt Singh Chhetry

Match Fixing in football

I want to write something about match fixing and unruly behavior in Nepali football, but honestly, no one cares except for a handful of diehard fans. Everyone - players, coaches, officials, etc. are in on it and the media not bothered to do any investigative reporting. Nepali football has become more like a chess or poker game - it's more about strategy off the field than the action on the field.

If someone like me who lives abroad has so much inside information on fixed matches, I can only imagine what those around Nepali football fulltime must know.

After the Machhindra-Bansbari fiasco in last seasons Martyrs League A Division, I presumed that the Nepali football fraternity would think twice before manipulating matches, but seeing what is going on in the B Division, it seems it is back to business as usual. 

National League = Champions League

If you think about it, the Nepal National League is actually a Champions League. The top 8 teams  in the Martyrs League 'A' Division are joined by the champions of the East Zone and West Zone. This is similar to how England, Spain and Germany get 4 bids to the UEFA Champions League, while countries like Ireland only get 1 bid.

There is no promotion/relegation and next year all clubs will have to start from scratch and qualify for the tournament again.

Eventually ANFA should combine the National League with the Martyrs League. Create a Premier division and then have an A Division, B Division and C Division below it. B and C Divisions can be regional to reduce costs and travel.

By the way - this is actually Nepal's 3rd National League. First two were held in 1998 and 1999. In 1998 Valley Sporting (Pokhara) and Munal Club (Jhapa) participated. In 1999 The Boys Group (Dharan) and a club from Rupandehi were the non-Kathmandu clubs. Mahendra Police Club (now NPC) won the League both times.

• 1998 National League results
• 1999 National League results

Best fans in the world?

Photo courtesy of NepalSportsPhoto

Despite Nepal’s ineptitude in international sport, it is amazing how passionate Nepali sports fans are. There was no better demonstration of this than in the beginning of December (2011) when simultaneously  Nepal’s National Cricket and Football Teams were participating in the ACC Twenty20 Cup and the SAFF Championship respectively.

The TU Cricket Ground was packed to the brim for each one of Nepal’s cricket matches and thousands of Nepalis made their way to Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi, India to root for Nepal’s Football Team. While thousands of fans at sporting events is nothing out of the ordinary, the greater context of these events would suggest otherwise.

The ACC Twenty20 Cup is a tournament for Asia’s cricketing minnows. In a day and age when even Test sides struggle to draw healthy crowds, for tens of thousands of fans to cram into the TU Cricket Ground, an absolute bare bones stadium, for matches against obscure opponents is impressive.

Similarly the SAFF Championship is a tournament for the weaklings of international football (i.e. South Asian nations). Attendance for the 2011 edition of the tournament was abysmal, the one bright spot being the Nepali contingent at all the Nepal matches. At least in the group stages, Nepali fans even outnumbered those of the host nation - India.

All this is nothing new. I’ve been fortunate enough to watch Nepali athletes and teams across the globe and seen the passion of Nepali sports fans on many occasions. Here are but a few examples:

1997 SAFF Cup (Kathmandu)

Dasharath Rangasala had an overflowing crowd of around 30,000 for the finals of the tournament, a match which did not even feature Nepal. India and Maldives were the finalists.

1998 Asian Games (Bangkok)

There were dozens of fervent Nepali fans at the Karate and Taekwondo events, more than any other nation except for the hosts Thailand.

1999 AFC Asian Olympic Qualifiers (Hong Kong)

Thousands of Nepali fans attended Nepal’s three matches at the Hong Kong Stadium. They outnumbered locals in the match against Hong Kong. In one of the most infamous events in Asian Soccer, hundreds of Nepali supporters invaded the pitch and then chased and beat-up Malaysian players after a Malaysian player became aggressive against a Nepali player.

2006 AFC U16 Championship (Singapore)

Nearly 2,500 Nepalis attended each one of Nepal’s matches in this youth competition. The non-Nepal games were lucky to even draw 500 fans. The Nepal-Singapore match drew a greater number of Gorkhalis than Singaporeans.

2008 Prime Ministers Cup (Kathmandu)

Virtually every game was packed in this meaningless football tournament where foreign teams disguised as Senior National Teams (ONLY IN NEPAL!) participated. The final match between Nepal and Sri Lanka saw ticketless fans climb trees and scale to the rooftops to catch a glimpse of the action.

2008 AFC Presidents Cup Qualifiers (Kuala Lumpur)

Hundreds of Nepali fans, most of them laborers with little disposable income, showed up to watch Nepal Police Club’s three matches in a tournament that was not marketed at all. AFC staff at the tournament were in shock as they did not expect any fans to turn up as the matches were supposed to be a closed doors affair.

These examples beg the question – are Nepalis the best sports fans in the world? Just imagine how much fan support we would bring if our athletes and teams actually had a good shot at winning something! 

SAFF Championship 2011: ANFA needs to get real about player development

In preparing for the SAFF Championship ANFA checked all the correct boxes.

They started preparing for the tournament months in advance, they hired a competent foreign coach, they sent the National Team abroad for training, they arranged friendly matches and they enticed players with all sorts of bonuses and rewards.

Despite ANFA’s best efforts and some inspired performances from our players, Nepal was only able to win one match out of four and went out to Afghanistan in the semifinals of the regional competition. It’s now been 18 long years since Nepal has won a senior tournament of significance. Most times, we struggle to even get out of the group stages.

Furthermore, Nepal continues to fail to defeat teams that at least on paper have no business being competitive against us. The Maldives is a tiny island nation with a smaller population than Bhaktapur District. Afghanistan has been ravaged by decades of war. Pakistan is best known for sewing footballs, not kicking them. India is a country solely obsessed with cricket.

Nepal should not just be competitive against our South Asian neighbors, we should be dominating them!

Football is king in the Himalayan Republic. The media attention, fan support, sponsorship (per capita) and passion for the Beautiful Game inside our borders is unrivaled in the region, and even in the continent there are only a handful of countries that can match our enthusiasm.  

So what seems to be the issue? Why do we struggle to even just reach the finals of a South Asian tournament?

To answer this, I refer you to a comment made by Indian football legend Bhaichung Bhutia in a recent interview. When asked what facilities Indian National Team players need to be able to compete with the better Asian sides, Bhaichung said that Indian players did not require better facilities, but that India required better players. He confessed that even his own standard was not good enough to compete with the likes of a Japan and South Korea or even a Qatar and Bahrain.

Nepal is in the exact same boat. To consistently win in SAFF and catch-up to mid level Asian football nations such as Malaysia and Lebanon we simply need to produce better players. (And for our cricket brothers at CAN, it’s the exact same scenario).

Will these boys become better players than what we've currently got?

Here is one way to look at it. Pretty much every Indian and Maldives National Team member would be able to play for Nepal’s best clubs, such as MMC or Nepal Police Club, yet according to a well respected South Asian football player agent, there are only two or three Nepali players good enough to play for even a lower level first division Indian or Maldives side.

Unfortunately, right now ANFA, our clubs, and football backers have no pragmatic plan to produce higher quality players. The words “football development” rings completely hollow to clubs, while sponsors/backers are still writing blank checks and have shown little vigilance in how their sponsorship rupees are spent.

As for ANFA, they basically have two failing strategies. One is the ANFA Academy and the second is cash rewards. Neither really is much of a strategy at all.

Selecting 40 boys at the age of 12 and expecting them to transform into world class players is naïve. There are too many variables that factor into player development and that is why you need a system where tens of thousands of kids are receiving high quality training and not just 40. Nirajan Malla is the classic case. At an early age he was billed as Nepal’s next great striker. He went to Japan for a short training stint with Asian giants Urawa Reds. It is rumored that Qatar’s Aspire Academy was also interested in signing him. As he grew older Nirajan was not able to live up to the hype and as we all know he was not even able to break into Nepal’s SAFF Championship side, a team that was weakest at the attacking positions.    

As for cash rewards, simply put you can’t turn lead into gold, no matter how much money or mutton you have on offer. Players are not suddenly going to be able to shoot better or have greater tactical awareness because a few notes are being waved in front of their faces the night before a match. If it was that easy, oil rich countries like Qatar and Brunei would be winning the FIFA World Cup every time.

ANFA needs to quit with the gimmicks and get real about player development. Churn out thousands of youth coaches that can mold future stars, create a proper scouting network that identifies promising talents, mandate clubs to adopt youth academies, require every tournament to run a parallel junior competition, foster a professional football environment by implementing a club licensing system and have a zero tolerance policy on match fixing. Only after such strategies are implemented can we realistically expect top caliber players – ones capable of competing against the best in Asia - to be born.

One of the most repeated phrases on Internet forums after Nepal’s loss to Afghanistan was “Bad Luck”.  We need to get to a point where our players are just so damn talented that neither “Good Luck” nor “Bad Luck” makes any difference in the final outcome. We’ll win no matter what!

SAFF Championship: The pride is back

When you play poorly and lose you get a sick feeling. When you lose but play well, your heart sinks. Today most Nepalis are suffering from football heartache and not headache.

The 2011 SAFF Championship in New Delhi was a big step in the right direction for Nepal’s National Team.

Before the tournament many reputed South Asian football pundits were lumping Nepal in the same category as perennial minnows Sri Lanka and Bhutan opposed to the masters Maldives and India. Who could argue with them?

Nepal’s only recent victory against a senior national team came against Bhutan and East Timor the punching bags of Asian football. Nepal was humiliated 9-0 by Jordan in the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers and lost the majority of its friendly matches in their South East Asian tour including 4-0 to perennial strugglers the Philippines. Was there really any reason to be optimistic?

However something remarkable happened in New Delhi. The team not only came to play, but they turned on the style. With quick, short-passing, attacking football Nepal overran all three of its opponents in the group stage and comfortably qualified for the semifinals of the tournament. In the knockout round Nepal unfortunately missed chance after chance in the first half and ultimately went down to a resilient Afghanistan side. You win some, you lose some.

What was most impressive about Nepal’s performances was the intensity and focus they showed - two traits that have often gone missing for the National Team. Nepali players in the recent past have a history of football load shedding, basically the lights going out at inopportune times, thus making careless mistakes, giving up silly goals and then sulking and conceding even more goals!

The Gorkhali spirit and bravado that was the hallmark of Nepali teams in the 1980’s has also long been absent. These days our players easily get nervous during matches and that extra bit of fight to win the ball, make a tackle, stand-up to the opponent has been a rarity.

This time however things were different. The Gorkhali spirit was back! The team was composed, they were determined, they had grit and they played some very attractive football. All this was perfectly encapsulated in the 96^th minute wonder strike by Sagar Thapa – perhaps the most dramatic goal in Nepali football history.

Graham Robert and his coaching staff deserve much credit for developing the team and getting the tactics right. ANFA, sponsors and well-wishers also did their part by leaving no stone unturned in preparing this team for the tournament. The SAFF Championship was truly a great team effort – players, coaches, officials, sponsors and not to forget - media and fans!

There have been very few times recently where we could genuinely be proud to be Nepali football fans. The last week was certainly one of those occasions.

We felt proud to see the resolve of our players.

We felt proud to witness the positive approach of our coaches.

We felt proud to hear foreign teams and commentators call us the best side in the tournament.

We felt proud to know that our fans totally kick-ass - in the stadium, online and at home.

It just felt great to be a proud Nepali football supporter once again.

SAFF Championship 2011

Semifinal: Nepal vs. Afghanistan (December 9)

Nepal had the possession, but Afghanistan had the goal and earned a 1-0 victory in extra time. Nepal had plenty of chances to score, but the strikers were blunt as was the case this entire tournament.

I'll have lots of articles on the SAFF Championship in the coming days. Stay tuned!


 Nepal vs. Pakistan (December 6)

With their quick, short passing game, for the third consecutive match Nepal were the better side. They took the lead on an inspired side volley by Bharat Khawas in a goalmouth scrap after a Nepal cornerkick. Pakistan equalized at the start of the 2nd half on a penalty kick, but hardly troubled Nepal thereafter. Nepal's attack itself was fairly blunt in the second period save a Sandeep Rai freekick that bounced-off the post.

The match ended in a 1-1 draw and its on to the semifinals for Nepal.

For all its enterprise Nepal seriously has lacked any sort of cutting edge in their attack throughout the SAFF Championship. Nepal's forwards neither have the virtuoso nor the strength and power to get past the oppositions' last line. It's no surprise therefore that all three of Nepal's goals in the tournament have come from set pieces.

Off the pitch, Nepal's hardcore football fanbase kicked-butt as usual. One again thousands were at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium creating a ruckus.


Nepal vs. Bangladesh (December 4)

Nepal continues to impress at the SAFF Championship. Though it took 90 minutes to find the winning goal versus Bangladesh, on an inspirational free kick by Captain Sagar Thapa, for the second game in a row they dominated the opposition.

Nepal has been the most impressive team at the SAFF Championship thus far. With India in disarray, could this be the year?


Nepal vs. Maldives (December 2)

The Boys came to play! Nepal was easily the better side in its first match against the Maldives. From the opening whistle the Maldives were on the back foot, unable to match Nepal’s fitness and intensity. With crisp one touch passing, Nepal attacked in waves. Unfortunately, poor crossing and a lack of shooting power in the final third saw the match end in just a 1-1 draw.

Most impressive was Nepal’s midfield which overwhelmed Maldives and hardly let them within 35 yards of Nepal’s goal. Constant pressure saw Maldives quite flustered and rarely were they able to string together more than 3 or 4 passes. Bharat Khawas in midfield and Robin Shrestha on the wing were a constant threat and could stake claim to the Man of the Match award.

Historically, in pressure situations Nepali players seem to get very tight and nervous and tend to wilt during crunch time. Not today. The players looked very confident from the start and despite going a goal down on a blinder of a shot at the end of the 1^st half, stayed composed and were able to level the game in the early part of the 2^nd period and kept attacking until the very end. Looks like the ANFA's motivation classes are paying off.