Kathmandu, May 27 -- Jibesh Pandey watches Nepal's 2026 SAFF Women's Championship opener fixture against Bhutan on a mobile phone on Monday evening. He is far from satisfied with the team's performance.

"I had predicted it to end 1-0," he says, as it rains outside a cafe in Thapathali, Kathmandu. "There were some good combination attacks, but there were many mistakes too. The team clearly missed the key players-Samba, Preeti [Rai] and Sabita [Rana Magar]."

Nepal had just defeated Bhutan 1-0, thanks to a lucky deflection, at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Goa, India.

Pandey had several other detailed analyses of the match. And his friends from football and media nodded, suggesting they agreed with what he said.

Of course, they would. Pand...