By a Staff Reporter
Kathmandu – The national football team of Nepal suffered a shock defeat against Chonburi FC of Thailand in a friendly match on Sunday. The local Thai team stunned Nepal 3-1 in the friendly match, which serves as Nepal’s preparation for the AOF Asian Cup qualifiers.
Phanthamit Praphanth, Renato Kelic and Nattapong Deeduaychat were on target for the hosts Chonburi FC during Sunday’s match played at their home ground in Thailand. Darshan Gurung scored a consolation goal for Nepal.
Chonburi FC took the lead with a goal from Praphanth in the 30th minute. Kelic doubled the lead in the 60th minute. Nepal’s substitute Darshan Gurung cut the deficit to make the score 2-1 in the 83rd minute. Gurung had replaced Arik Bista in the starting of the second half.
Chonburi’s substitute p layer Deeduaychat added another goal in the injury time to kill the match. Nepal’s coach Abdullah Al Mutairi had rested the team’s first-choice goalkeeper Kiran Chemjong during Sunday’s match against Chonburi FC. Deep Karki was assigned the responsibility of the goalkeeper while Ananta Tamang was the captain during the match.
Earlier on March 24, Nepal had lost 2-0 to Thailand’s national team in a friendly match. Prior to this, Nepal had hosted Mauritius at Dasharath Stadium on January 29 and February 1 for friendly matches during which the hosts emerged victorious by an identical scoreline of 1-0.
