By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Sept. 10: Anjan Bista starred as Nepal thrashed Chinese Taipei 2-0 at their home ground at the FIFA World Cup 2022 and AFC Asian Cup 2023 second round qualifiers on Tuesday.
Bista marked his comeback with a bang as his double helped Nepal register a first historical win in the second round of the World Cup qualifiers. Attacking midfielder Bista scored his individual two goals for national team for the first time.
Bista made national team debut in the 2014 against Philippines in a friendly at Doha, Qatar in 31st October as he substituted defender Sandeep Rai in the 61st minute.
This is also a first official victory of Coach Johan Kalin after taking charge of National football team. Kalin arrived Kathmandu in last March. The victory over 125th ranked Chinese Taipei helped Kalin brush aside the loss against Kuwait.
Bista put Nepal ahead in the 4th minutes through a header to the free kick off Sujal Shrestha. Nepal earned free kick after Chinese Taipei player fouled Ravi Paswan near 25-yards.
The in-form Bista sealed the match for home in the 62nd minutes. He scored stunning goal from inside a box connecting the head pass of Sujal Shrestha.
Coach Kalin dropped Bista against Kuwait while Nepal suffered 7-0 defeated played at Kuwait, City on last Thursday.
The higher ranked Chinese Taipei also made a couple of chances against visitor Nepal but all their effort went in the vain. Their golden opportunities to equal goal went vain in the 22nd minutes as Nepali skipper and goalie Kiran Chemjong made a brilliant saved.
Nepali goalie Chemjong yet again denied Chinese Taipei in the 41st minutes as he blocked the powerful strike of Taipei player.
Chinese Taipei came back in the second half with more attacks and they tried to break Nepali defense but they failed to break Nepal’s wall in the match. Nepali defenders rectified their errors they made against Kuwait as Taipei attackers could not penetrate the defense wall.
This is a second defeated in a row for Chinese Taipei. They suffered a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Jordan in their away match on September 5.