Kathmandu, March 31 -- When Guglielmo Arena, Nepal's men's team head coach, arrived at New Laos National Stadium on Tuesday, he was in high spirits. "We will try to play a very good football," Arena said, ahead of his first outing with the Nepali national team. The UEFA pro-coach had joined the Gorkhalis on March 12, with a mandate to uplift the beleaguered team's performance. Nepal were taking on Laos for the last match of the AFC Asian Cup Qualification-Third Round against Laos on Tuesday. "We will try to improve ourselves," Arena said.

But the game didn't go into Nepal's favour. It could be said that Nepal couldn't perform to their abilities, but it would be hard to argue that they played "a very good football". They especially fumble...