By a Staff Reporter
Kathmandu – Nepal’s national football team has returned home after participating in the Asian Cup 2023 qualifiers.
The national football team returned home from Kuwait at 10 am on Thursday through a Qatar Airways flight. ANFA’s central committee member Rupesh Adhikari welcomed the players at the Tribhuvan International Airport upon their arrival.
The team lost all three matches played during the qualifiers in Kuwait.
Although a 31-member squad of Nepal returned home, chief coach Abdullah Al Mutairi remained in Kuwait. The chief coach, who had collapsed during one of the matches under the qualifiers, took leave from ANFA to stay back in his homeland.
Nepal, which travelled to Kuwait for the qualifiers without 11 senior players, finished bottom of the table without any win in Group A. Nepal had lost the first match against Jordan 2-0 and were then beaten by the hosts Kuwait 4-1 in the second match. Darshan Gurung had scored a lone goal against Kuwait after 40 years. Back in the 1980s, YB Ghale had scored a goal against Kuwait, which happens to be Nepal’s first international goal.
In the last match of the qualifiers, Nepal were humbled 7-0 by Indonesia. Nepal were limited to 10 men in the first half against Indonesia.
