It was complete disarray as Brunei, in 199th position in the FIFA world ranking, denied Nepal an easy passage into the quarter-finals with a surprising 2-1 victory in their Group B match at the MA Aziz Stadium in Bangladesh on Tuesday.

With a 1-0 victory over Bhutan on Tuesday, Sri Lanka is leading the group with six points, followed by Nepal and Brunei with three points each.

The Nepalese team played sluggish while Brunei started aggressively and bore fruit in the 10th minute when Adie Mohammed Salleh headed home the opener on a Sallehuddin Damit corner. The lead boosted the players’ confidence and captain Riwandi Wahit doubled the advantage in the 42nd minute on a freekick from Sallehuddin. Brunei took the lemon tea break up 2-0.

Lady luck was not favoring Nepal from the start as Surendra Tamang’s freekick hit the post in the 4th minute while Brunei goalkeeper Azman Ilham Noor made a brilliant save on a Bijay Gurung shot in the 35th minute.

Nepal dominated the second half and made some beautiful moves but failed to score. Nepal’s Tashi Tsering cut the deficit in the 60th minute when his header off a Bijaya Gurung corner found the back of the net.

Nepal coach Shyam Thapa blamed the defeat on his defenders. “It was our bad luck today. We dominated throughout the match and three of our shots hit the post. Despite this, my defenders conceded goals,” he said. “But we are still alive,” Thapa added. “I will motivate my players for the final game against Sri Lanka on April 6 and I have confidence in them that we can make it to the second round.”

Brunei coach Ali Haji Mustafa was pleased with his team’s performance. “I am proud with this show today. Nepal played very good football, but in the end result counts.”

Nepal will play its last league match against Sri Lanka to eye an quarterfinal berth tomorrow. nepalnews.com bt Apr 05 06