A clinical Nepal finally ended a 23-year trophy drought yesterday when they emerged as the champions in the fourth edition of the Bangabandhu Gold Cup after thumping Bahrain Under-23 3-0 in the grand finale at the Bangabandhu National stadium.
Youngster Bimal Gharti Magar was the star of the final, scoring one and assisting one, while Bishal Rai sealed the win by bagging his side’s second goal in the dying stages. Semi-final hero Nawayug Shreshtha, in the meantime, continued his stellar run in the tournament by completing the rout in injury time.
Dhaka is a lucky destination for Nepal. It was back in 1993 in the 6th South Asian Games, hosted by the capital city, when the Himalayan nation last won an international title, beating India in the final.
Overall, it was Nepal’s third international success which includes their inaugural SAF Games crown in 1984.
The Gorkhalis started just from where they had left off in their 4-1 last-four thrashing over Maldives. They dominated the entire final while goalkeeper Bikesh Kuthu, who shipped only one goal in five matches, was in terrific touch, making two superb saves to ensure a clean sheet. Along with Nawayug, Bikesh was one of the stars of the tournament.
Bimal gave Nepal the breakthrough with just five minutes into the clock. Skipper Biraj Mahajan provided a cross from the right flank for Anjan Bista, whose header was saved brilliantly by Bahrain custodian Mahboob Aldoseri. The resulting rebounder fell kindly at the feet of Bimal and the young striker made no mistake placing home.
The final suddenly hotted up in the 82nd minute when Bahrain midfielder Ahmed Althuani and Nepal forward Suman Lama received their marching orders for clashing with each other.
A few minutes later, Bishal made it 2-0 when he sidefooted home following some lovely work by Anjan on the right flank.
Bahrain were desperate to reduce the arrears and in pursuit of it, they rushed forward in numbers, leaving empty spaces behind. And Nawayug duly took advantage of the situation, heading home a fine Bimal cross from the left flank.
Bahrain were reduced to nine men right before the final whistle when captain Abdulaziz Alshaikh was shown his second yellow card.
Bimal was adjudged the player of the final while Nawayug, who slammed a hat-trick against Maldives in the last four, received the award for the top goalscorer.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina distributed the prizes among the winners as the chief guest.