Come On Nepal, We either Do Or Die

International football is knocking on our doors and when it comes to Nepal’s international matches in Nepal, the excitement level is very very high. Football is once again talk of the town. Nepalese football, which once seemed to be improving all the time after some courageous performance, is having bad time living up to the expectation of supporters. And the time has come for the team to deliver. Winning the heart of supporters is one thing; it is points that matter for now. Nepal is playing Group D Qualifiers for the AFC Challenge Cup scheduled to be held in Maldives. Palestine, Northern Mariana Island and Bangladesh are Nepal’s competitor in the group. Nepal is playing the qualifier in home soil, which is a massive advantage and they must make it count. The players along with the management must have known this is high time they deliver. It has been long time, Nepal has not scored goal and not won any of its matches.

Most of the people are disappointed with inability of strikers to score goal. Scoring goal is essential but I see problems beyond that. I have been following Nepal’s matches for quite a time. Football is a team game and contribution from every corner is essential. Nepal plays good in possession, but they do not use their possession to create lot of chances. When Nepal gets the ball, they are very slow to use it. They should use the ball fast and string a lot of quick passes that does not let opposition settle and the players can get into a lot of space and create goal scoring opportunities. When the players move with the ball, they are not able to provide a killer ball. Neither the strikers make creative runs. So every time, Nepal comes with the ball, opposition shuts the door and players seem helpless. The opposition closes the player with the ball and he sees none of his friend to pass the ball to. So every Nepali player should be eager to get the ball and get to a position where he should be able to pass the ball to another player. There is not enough penetration from the Nepalese player and it a real disappointment. When every player is creative on the third half of the pitch, goals are eventually there to be taken.

Nepalese defence is good, but at some time in the match, they lose their concentration and concede goal and hence they are needed to be on high alert. Their communication is vital in defensive line. Sagar Thapa is experienced and he should arrange the defence for better performance. The defensive midfielders should help the defence out. Whenever the full backs are on offensive, they should help out the defence by dropping deep. Better is for midfielders closing the ball up the field very quickly, so that opposition has to track back or has no alternative and no idea of using the ball. I think Nepal should double up dangerous player of other team. Nepal should just not allow them to settle down. Defensive midfielders are very important part of the game. With Rohit Chand back into the squad, either he or Sandeep Rai can be used as defensive midfielder. They both are always the best performer on the pitch for Nepal. Their game is important as part of Nepal’s game. Nepal should hunt in pack, be it on offensive or defensive. Biraj Maharjan and Rabin Shrestha are the most likely two full backs. They should be involved throughout the match. Biraj Maharjan has very good crossing and is strong. He should go for overlapping runs more often. Rabin Shrestha may be weak but has very good understanding of the game and he is always going to stick with player in the wing. Their overlapping runs are also something to be seen. Performances of these players are very important.

Nepalese midfield is ok. In Bhola Silwal, we have a player with amazing stamina. He can run around the field with enormous energy. How is he going to use it is important. Jagjeet Shrestha has amazing talent and can create havoc in the D area with his skills. The only problem with him is discipline. We can see his passion for the country and game when he is on the field. He is always eager to get the ball. All the players should learn from him. He can be the play maker for Nepal. He has amazing vision to change flanks and vision to pick out passes. Bharat Khawas is another one with amazing determination. He has been a consistent performer for the country. He can run with the ball against the opposition and do things with it. It is necessary for the midfielders to be creative and should be always thinking of the game. They should have good coordination with the defence and attack. They should be clever in picking out passes.

Nepalese attack is not totally quality less which we have seen from the amount of goal they have scored in the league. Every striker has their own quality. Who gets picked depends on the tactics of coach. Attackers are either required to be creating things in the box or should be at the right place at the right time. Nepali attackers show neither of them. They are not helped by performance of the midfielder too. There are not enough balls from midfield for the attackers to play with. It is very important from them to read the game and make things happen. If it is needed for attackers to drop deep, they should do that. But if attackers try to get the ball from deep and have nowhere to go, that does not do good for the team.

Having said that, Nepal has to be very careful in this tournament. The opposition are well prepared and have come out of intense preparation. The support from the home fans is always going to be there. But the fans tend to get frustrated very quickly. What we have seen from the games recently is, Nepal starts with good energy but that fades up as the time progresses. Then mistakes start to happen. So Nepal should start and settle down quickly. Early on the halves are the best time for Nepal to score goal. That will get every player motivated and can keep the crowd alive. The tactics from the new coaches are surely going to be new things for the players. How good they implement is a big question. Let us hope this tournament can create new road map for Nepalese football; we supporters are ready for the tournament. Let’s hope the players are also ready and up for it.

Come on Nepal.

P.S.: The blog was first published on "http://samaykosanopal.wordpress.com"  on March 1. 

It was also featured in GoalNepal.com's website on March 2. Here's the GoalNepal's version http://www.goalnepal.com/news.php?id=12525 

Surprise Works Motivation

So what exactly I am going to talk about? I don’t know. I am trying to get into blogging and the greatest hindrance is where to start from, which is not what I have acquired recently, but always have had a problem. I am neither poor nor excellent in writing. Interests in various fields such as sports, talk shows and books, all aid to a certain level of knowledge and information. But I have not been able to use these knowledge and information properly, merely due to the inability to start. Hence, comes the other hindrance in writing, the motivation. I am fully aware that lack of motivation is the reason for me not writing as much as I should. You need to get the motivation nice and early, if you want to start something good and gain out of it. It is the motivation that can drive you forward, and helps to keep up with the passion. And now I feel I am getting the motivation and I want to use it to good effect.

Life comes with surprises, and that is what makes life beautiful. Every time and every moment can come as a surprise to us. It is up to us to make most of these life’s beautiful events. As long as we can keep the positive attitude and positive feeling, things can hardly go wrong, as we know everything that happens, happens for the best. I just had a small surprise recently, and for now that matters the most. I think it is time to use that little piece of surprise as motivation. The same namesake as of mine had some time ago tweeted that he was in pursuit of the dream of studying engineering, which I am now living. I wished him luck and told him the time will eventually come. Events until this was normal, what followed was a surprise. He tweeted me the link of his article on how my tweet had inspired him. I read that and felt that I should be writing what I feel too. And what you are reading now is a result of it. I must be thankful to him for becoming a part of motivation which was lacking.

I hope to write this blog on a lot of subject. This blog would be about everything I feel, I do or I think. I hope to be true to my feelings. Everything I write would be my understanding of the subject and what I feel right. I hope to continue this blog, and give more and more time to it. So, cheers to the world of blog and blogging.

P.S : First published in my other blog 'samaykosanopal.wordpress.com' on 25 February, 2013.

A day well spent...

On Saturday, the 27^th of April, we were privileged to be sharing some priceless moments with the children of an orphanage.  We were a group of 4, and were visiting the orphanage as part of community service from the team.  The orphanage situated in Sainbu-3, Lalitpur was called ‘Orphans Homes’ founded by Mrs. Rita Rai. The girls and boys of the orphanage lived in separate houses. Boy’s residence was called ‘Khusi Ghar’(Happy Home). The girl’s residence was where the contact office was and the chairperson lived.

Posing for a group photo.

It was a beautiful morning with glorious sunshine. We reached the boy’s orphanage first at around 9 am. When we reached there, some of the boys were inside their room, some were outside playing basketball. The boy’s were of various ages. We introduced ourselves; all of them were very welcoming and greeted us. We distributed chocolates we had brought for them and played basketball with them. All of us posed for a group photo. We clicked photos of the kids. The innocence on their face was very appealing. We then left the boy’s place for the girls’.

On reaching girl’s residence, we were greeted by the kids. All of them had bright smile on their face and were very happy to welcome us. We spend some time with the chairperson and talked with her, how she established the orphanage and how she is managing it. Here is her account on how she started the good work-

                ‘I once visited a village in Terai, and saw many children without clothes. I decided to donate some clothes myself. The happiness in kid’s face made me happy and got motivation to do something good for the kid’s. So I decided to establish an orphanage and this is how this all started.’

She shared with us how difficult it was to start and run the orphanage back then.  She did not have enough support when she started the work. It was not easy for her to involve others in the work. But she did not lose hope and got along with it. She sold some piece of land to build home for the kids.  She also sold some of her ornaments. Back then, she cared the kids on her own. Cooking food for them, washing their clothes, making the kid’s bath were all her responsibilities, and she fulfilled those with utmost satisfaction. As the kids are growing up, there are more difficulties. Financial problems are increasing, albeit all she wants is honest help. There are various campaigns that the children from the orphanage have done to raise funds in the past.

The girl’s on the orphanage were very sweet, very encouraging. After talking to Rita Rai, we looked around the orphanage to see the facilities. We handed over copies to Rai to help her support the education of the kids. We then gave chocolates to the girls. The feeling of happiness on their face was priceless. The girl’s then showed us their dancing and singing skills. Some of them recited poems ,rhymes and some told jokes. It was nice to see older ones helping out the younger ones. It was nice to see everyone being happy for each other. The girls seemed to be in good and healthy condition, which we often doubt when there are many children living in orphanage. Mrs. Rai had taken good care of their nutrition. She told us that she does not want her children to be seen as malnutrition. 

Handing over copies

As the years passed by, helping hands increased. She got the support from the family.  With the multi-talent Mrs. Rai had, she did not have to beg support from others. She tried everything she liked to run the orphanage. From horticulture and gardening to pig farming, from bee farming to running school, she tried and achieved success. She is now involved in handicraft. While the earning is good, most of that goes into running the orphanage and she is happy how things are moving on. She feels proud remembering how things have gone so far for her. She is however not merely taking care of the children, but contributing her skills to the small child. She claims that she wants her child to be independent and develop skills so that they can run their life in future. The girls seem to understand that. They were interested in helping out in household works. They knew which and when festivals are celebrated, what arrangements are needed. Mrs. Rai is now starting a bakery, and the girls are helping her in running the bakery. That would surely make them more confident and independent.

Chocolate.

I always thought I would feel sorry and low when I go to places like those. But that was certainly not the case. Right away when you entered the home, there were good feelings coming through. The greenery around the home and beautiful smiling face of the girl made it special.

What was more special for me was that the visit to orphanage was on my birthday. It felt very good to realize that I had done something good on my birthday and I suggest people reading this to try sharing their time with children like those. It was overall a day well spent.