Playing against new rivals Bahrain

Therefore, a new history will be made when Nepal faces Bahrain on Thursday in a match that has both World Cup and Asia Cup qualifiers. This will be the first match between the two countries in international football. Bahrain will be a new opponent in international football for Nepal.

is Nepal's first official rival, Kuwait. Nepal played against Kuwait in men's football of the Asian Games held in New Delhi, India. Since then, Nepal has faced 43 countries in official international football. In this case, Bahrain will be the 44th opponent in international football for Nepal. Apart from Mauritius, all the teams that Nepal has played so far are members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

Bahrain will be the 18th opponent that Nepal is going to face in the World Cup qualifiers. Nepal played the 1986 World Cup qualifiers for the first time. Since then, Nepal has faced 17 teams. South Korea, which has been regularly representing Asia in the World Cup recently, is Nepal's first opponent in the World Cup qualifiers. Apart from that, Nepal has faced Malaysia, Singapore, Macau, Oman, Japan, Kazakhstan and Iraq in World Cup qualifiers.

Nepal has also played against Timor Liste, Jordan, India, Kuwait, Chinese Taipei, Australia, Laos, UAE and Yemen in the World Cup qualifiers. Nepal's match against Bahrain will be the 41st since Nepal has played 40 matches in the World Cup qualifiers. What a sad coincidence, it will be played as Nepal's 'home match'. Then the next match on Tuesday will be Bahrain's 'home match'. In this year's Asian World Cup qualifiers, Nepal is in Group 'H'.

UAE and Yemen are also in this group of Nepal. All teams have played 2-2 matches in the group. Nepal is in last place with zero points after losing both their matches. UAE is at the top with 6 points after winning both matches. Then Bahrain and Yemen have three 3 points. Both of them have won one match and lost one match. Nepal has lost 4-0 to UAE and 2-0 to Yemen in the two matches played.

Nepal's historic victory

It is not the first time that Bahrain is going to play against an official team. Nepal played once against Bahrain's U-23 team and achieved a historic success by winning 3-0. Whenever they face Bahrain in the current World Cup qualifiers, the Nepali team will have sweet memories of that match. That match was the final of the 2016 Bangabandhu Gold Cup. By winning that match, Nepal ended their 23-year titleless journey.

Nepal's performance was high in the match held at Bangabandhu Stadium in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Coincidentally, Nepal won the men's football gold in the South Asian Games by defeating India in a tiebreaker at the same Bangabandhu Stadium in 1993. In the match against Bahrain U-23, Bimal Ghartimagar opened the scoring in the fifth minute. Nepal's one-goal lead remained almost until the end of the game.

Vishal Rai added the second goal in the 87th minute and Nepal's victory seemed certain. In the first minute of the injury time of the second half, Navyug Shrestha scored the third goal to end all chances of returning to the Bahrain game. Nepali goalkeeper Vikesh Kuthu also played an important role in this victory. He made a series of saves. Will Nepal be inspired by their victory against Bahrain's U-23 team eight years ago when they face Bahrain this time?