13 June 2010

Nepal in the World Cup

Can it happen? Absolutely it can!

The naysayers will always bring-up excuses - we're too poor (Honduras?), our players are too small (Messi?), it will take generations (North Korea?), Nepal is too corrupt (Cameroon?), our facilities are pathetic (Nigeria?) - but the fact is many countries with our resume (as highlighted in the parentheses) have achieved what many believe to be impossible.

A recent Price Waterhouse Coopers report stated, "If a country has a strong footballing tradition, then finding 11 international-class players should not be that difficult even from a population of just a few million". 

We do not need hundreds of world class footballers, we just need 11 good ones. If we have good scouting, strong coaches and a solid youth football system (ANFA Academy fails on all three counts), we can definitely create a competitive team. As countries like North Korea, Togo, Jamaica, Trinidad, New Zealand and Honduras have shown, once you have a competitive team, with a bit of good fortune, anything can happen - even Nepal qualifying for the FIFA World Cup. (Photo with permission from Sangesh Shrestha)