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)

04 June 2010

Jesus loves you

Found this amusing photo taken by Sangesh Shrestha at the British Gurkha Cup. Some may recall a post I wrote some time back about Jesus and Nepali sports.