Almost the question arose everywhere during a sporting event in Nepal. “When are we playing the FIFA World Cup?” Representing a nation in the World Cup is like a dream for every footballer and almost every citizen wants to achieve this dream. The passion of Nepalese football fans is incredible, and they support their team with all their heart. In recent years, we have noticed that the majority of Nepalese Youths are being interested in football. We can acknowledge the fact that the Nepalese audience has a strong passion for football and almost 10K people gather to watch football live in the stadium.
The fun fact is that there’s no age limit for being a football fan, for instance, a baby can be a die-hard fan of football and may develop his passion and devotion to his supporting team. So, actually, age doesn’t matter to be a football fan. So, the most propelling question is still unanswered, When are we playing the FIFA World Cup? Well, the question is simple to hear but there are a lot of things to be considered while giving a satisfying answer on this. The real focus should be on this thing; What makes us different from the nations playing WorldCup? Listing down some comparisons though. – Not all nations that play WorldCup are totally developed, so the excuse of being an underdeveloped nation just does not work here. The budget is allotted for football and there comes this old mindset of having it all for themselves. The budget goes into the central and local body’s associates and not into the development of football infrastructures. The local bodies are responsible for bringing out talents from roots and totally unsettled and politically influenced. -The primary difference, of course, the players. Our players begin football primarily as a part-time hobby. We seriously lack the motivation in us that pulls out the football passion from a four-year-old kid. Blaming the political influence here seems perfect. Players are chosen from high political ranks or who have the influence of power and money. The real players who have good gaming skills never get a chance to enter the selection and get wiped out. The players with political background and influence over power and money get the opportunity and carried away with fake passion, and only seeking personal benefits. Such negative intentions may lead to consequences of match-fixing and other unethical activities intended to fraud and cheating the system. The real passionate players are clearly side-lined and their skills are not yet evaluated and suppressed by power and politics. These players who are skilled and do have a complete passion and devotion to football are compelled to leave their career, and make their way to gulf countries for exploring opportunities. Though some are engaged to local level clubs and being limited to a local level tournament with a significantly less wage.
If there are more investments and allowance to the players who are passionate about their game career, they have to deserve better in world football. – The management and coaching staff.
The developed countries who had participated in FIFA seek the best players and ask for CV along with experience. Whereas in countries like Nepal, players are chosen on the basis of capital or donation they provide. Actually, these funds are bribery and even the coaches are mediocre or just novice and don’t acquire much skills. So, what we are supposed to expect from such coaches with no particular experience? Also, players are more pressurized and solely made them contribute or score the team, and not caring about the exhaust he/she might possess.
For example, Our National Woman Team’s striker Sabitra Bhandari, Samba who has scored successively 10 goals in a match, ends up getting injured in the next game, with her knees fractured. So, it clearly shows that she was pressurized into a team, where she gave all her effort in the game and gets injured in the meantime. Actually, it was the fault of the management team, to deploy her in the field for a longer time and rather not substituting other players in replace of her. It would be a good decision of the coach if he had sent other extras as a substitute in the game.
So, the question arises “Why didn’t the coach replace her with other substitutes even after a hattrick?” If that wise decision was made earlier she wouldn’t be getting injured. So, the analysis clearly shows that the team lacks proper management and good coaching staff.
Let’s talk about the solutions to it. These problems cannot be solved overnight as it requires time and will take everybody of us to contribute ourselves in one way or the other. The love we possess for our National football team should not dip but rise every day. All we can do is believe and make Nepali football an independent unit representing our passion all around the world. To summarize this it’s just simple to say unless there’s some huge revolution in the game practices, but the truth is no matter we play the world cup or not the passion with which we support our team will never change and dip down. The SAFF football games that Nepal plays have more passion and enthusiasm than any other European and American teams playing FIFA finals. Let’s just keep loving Nepali football, and it’s the foundation of our dream to achieve success and emerged as a Nation to participate in FIFA WorldCup.
