Ahead Of The Indonesia Vs Nepal National Team In The 2023 Asian Cup Qualification: The Story Of 10 Players Withdrawing From Nepal Red Because Of Lodging

Nepal national team player Rohit Chand. (Photo: Instagram.com/@rohitchandthakuri32)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian national team will face Nepal in the final match of the 2023 Asian Cup qualification, Wednesday, June 15 2023. The Garuda squad must win with a landslide score if they want to keep their chances of qualifying for the finals.

Opportunities to do that are quite open. The reason, Nepal is not at its best. In fact, they have already suffered two defeats in qualifying, namely against Jordan 0-2 and Kuwait 1-4.

Nepal's fragility cannot be separated from the emergence of their 10 pillar players ahead of the 2023 Asian Cup qualification. One of them is Rohit Chand, a player from Persik Kediri.

Rohit Chand and nine other players' decision to withdraw from the Nepal national team was later discovered due to a dispute with coach Abdullah Al Mutairi over the training camp ahead of his departure to Kuwait.

Quoted from OnlineKhabar, the nine players who also decided to withdraw are Anjan Bista, Bimal Gharti Magar, Ananta Tamang, Bishal Rai, Bishal Shrestha, Sujal Shrestha, Tej Tamang, Dinesh Rajbanshi and Suman Lama.

The dispute between the ten players and the Nepal national team coach began when Rohit Chand, a senior player in the team, questioned the rights of players during a training camp.

Nepalese players refuse to stay at the Nepal Football Association (ANFA) accommodation while undergoing training camps because they are deemed unfit. Al Mutairi who is the coach then asked Chand and the players who refused to stay at the ANFA inn to leave the team.

The players then chose to really leave, even though they really wanted to talk about this as a family.

However, because of the coach's treatment of pointing at the players' faces, they were forced to state this issue in public.

“We want to resolve this issue internally. But, as (the coach's) fingers are pointing at us, we decided to talk about this matter openly," the Nepalese football players said in a public statement at a press conference in Kathmandu, a day after leaving training.

According to one player, they actually feel proud to have the opportunity to defend the Nepalese national team. Even for the sake of this opportunity they are also willing to leave the club that gives them financial benefits.

However, in the end the treatment shown by the coach to them led to disappointment.

"We are proud to represent Nepal. Sometimes we neglect club careers that are important to us financially and play for our country whenever we ask. But the way we were treated by the coach was disgusting."

After deciding to leave for the Nepal national team, Rohit Chand then decided to return to Indonesia and join Persik who are now appearing in the 2022 Presidential Cup.