Hong Kong did not take the visitors Nepal lightly in the international friendly on Thursday. However, the hosts were unable to find the back of the net even once against Matt Ross’ Nepal.

More than half of the players who played against Manchester United on May 30 figured in Starting XI against Nepal. Those who did not start against United were no less in their game either.

But the team that was able to score first against the 13-time Premier League winner could not deliver against Nepal.

Nepali fans almost equalled the number of Hong Kong fans at Hong Kong National Stadium, the same venue where Hong Kong lost 1-3 to United less than a week ago.

It was mostly thanks to the valiant efforts from Nepal’s wall Kiran Chemjong and the defence line that Hong Kong failed to score even once. The same effort from the opponent prevented Nepal from scoring as well.

Moreover, with four minutes left in the seven minutes of injury time, Nepal were down to 10 men as Mani Kumar Lama was sent off with a second yellow in 90+3 minutes.

The friendly was a preparation for both teams. On June 10, Nepal will visit Laos, and Hong Kong hosts India in the Third Round of the AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers.

India had also played a preparation game for the Qualifiers against Thailand on Wednesday and lost it 0-2.