Nepal took a major step towards booking their ticket to the Finals after cruising to a 8-0 win over Sri Lanka in their AFC Women’s Asian Cup Australia 2026™ Qualifiers Group F tie at the Bunyodkor Stadium on Wednesday.
The win sees Nepal on six points, with the South Asian side to meet Uzbekistan on Saturday.
Having defeated Laos 9-0 in their opener, Nepal showed they meant business when they took the lead in the seventh minute after Anita Basnet sent a perfect corner for Gita Rana to head home.
Anita was in the thick of things again in the 20th minute when she pounced on a poor clearance from Sakura Sewwandi Subasinghe to set up Sabitra Bhandari for an easy finish.
Sri Lanka were caught again in the 42nd minute when Rashmi Kumari Ghising prodded inside the box before cutting back to Sabitra, who finished with a looping effort over Sakura before completing her hat-trick with a stoppage time header.
Nepal increased the tempo in the second half and the pressure caused Sri Lanka to concede a penalty after Rashmi was brought down inside the area, with Gita converting from the spot in the 54th minute.
Nisha Thokar then added more woe to Sri Lanka after finding the net in the 62nd minute following Anita’s corner with substitute Rekha Poudel then etching her name on the scoresheet in the 78th minute to nod home Nepal’s seventh.
Puja Rana got into the action, netting Nepal’s eighth goal of the evening to cap another impressive outing for Patrick De Wilde’s side.
-AFC (Photo: AFC)
