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| AFC Challenge Cup |
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| Mixed emotions for Shrestha |
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| Nepal coach Birat Krishna Shrestha was happy to see his side end their AFC Challenge Cup campaign with a win. |
HYDERABAD –Birat Krishna Shrestha was happy with Nepal’s 3-0 win over Sri Lanka on Monday but admitted he was disappointed that his side is missing out on the AFC Challenge Cup semi-finals.
Shrestha’s side opened the scoring after 14 minutes through Santosh Shahukhala before Ju Manu Rai and Anjan KC added goals after the break as Nepal claimed their first win of the tournament to finish third in the group behind winners DPR Korea and runners-up Myanmar, who both advanced to the semi-finals.
After suffering an opening day 3-0 defeat by Myanmar, Nepal lost 1-0 to DPR Korea but avoided finishing at the foot of the table after beating Sri Lanka, who finished without a point from their three games in India.
"We deserved this win," said Shrestha. "We are happy with this victory but we are a little bit disappointed that we couldn't score more goals.
"We came here with an aim to qualify for the semi-finals and things were not good for us following the first defeat against Myanmar, which ended our chances and we couldn't qualify.
"The result was good today but the performance was not as I expected. It was mainly because of the bad status of the pitch which made it hard for the players to play their game.”
Shrestha insisted early changes, which saw Biraj Maharjan replace Sagar Thapa after just 34 minutes, were crucial to the victory.
"We made early changes in the game to change our tactics and things were good," added Shrestha. "The performance improved and we scored two more goals.
"Now we need to give the players some rest after this heavy schedule. The local league in Nepal will start in two months and we will try to look at new players and bring them into the national team."
After suffering three defeats to finish bottom of the four-team group, Sri Lanka coach Jang Jung was shocked his side will head home pointless.
But the Korean coach insisted his side had been hit by an injury crisis.
"Of course we didn't expect to lose three straight matches," added Jang. "We have an injury crisis and things were very hard for us as six players played the game and they were carrying injuries.
"We went into the game with an aim to win but it wasn't easy for us. The game was also tough because Nepal played well and they had a lot of chances to score.
"The status of the pitch didn't help either team.
“But to be honest, our players didn't play with their usual fighting spirit because the defeat against Myanmar affected their moral and the spirit was down."
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